Zachary and the Book of Rhan
by Lila1
Summary: Zachary is snooping around Sakura's house one day after getting kicked out of class, and comes accross something he probably should have left alone in the first place. T&C,bits of S&S,and that probing question,M&? PG13 for language in future chapters.R
1. Default Chapter

The Book of Rahn

The Book of Rahn

Yay! Here we go with my all-new fic. Unlike Sweet Sixteen, this isn't an S&S romance. Has anyone noticed the lack of fan fiction about Zachary? Yeah that's right, the one that never opens his eyes. This one's about his adventures in high school, and it involves a new breed of card, so here it is and it'll keep coming…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Zachary rolled out of bed and hit the floor with a thud.

"Zachary! You're going to be late for school!" his mother shouted up the stairs.

"I'm sick! I'm not going today!"

"Nice try! You can't pull that on me mister so get down here!"

Zachary groaned and rolled his eyes. He got dressed quickly and ran down stairs, grabbing a burnt piece of toast and running out the door with his backpack over one shoulder.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"We will now hear your report on GMOs, Zachary."

"No you won't." he said simply as the rest of the class settled down.

"We will if you don't want to fail this project. I already gave you an extension when your poor mother got hit by a bus and you had to stay with her in the hospital, so where is it?"

"My dog ate it."

"Oh really? Is that the same dog that died last Tuesday?" The class snickered.

"No," he began without a care, "This is a different one. His name is Sparky and he has floppy ears."

"Zachary I've had enough of this. You're just wasting the class' time now. Get out."

He shrugged as he gathered his books. "Where do you want me to go?" he asked.

"I don't care. Just go."

"I'm going to have a long talk with that dog when I get home!" he said angrily, then slammed the door. A grin spread across his face as he paused outside the door and heard the laughter of his classmates following his exit.

He loved being the resident class clown. The job had its perks. For example, he just got out of class and now he had a spare period to do whatever he wanted. He decided to go visit Sakura Avalon, one of his closest friends at school, who was home sick for the day. He laughed to himself wondering why that excuse never worked for him.

He rang the doorbell and a minute later a very disheveled Sakura appeared at the doorway with a box of Kleenex under one arm and a glass of orange juice in her hand.

"Good morning sunshine." He said as she squinted at him. 

"Come in." she pulled him inside quickly.

"Uh oh, someone's playing hooky!" he teased.

"Oh give me a break. It's not like I do it often!" she chugged the O.J. and tossed the Kleenex onto the couch. "What do you want?"

"Just came by to cheer you up. I got kicked out of English."

"Oh. Well you can't watch TV, the cable's disconnected."

"You feel like having some pizza? My treat."

"Absolutely. You have no idea how draining it is to pretend you're sick."

"Yes I do. I just never get away with it. See, you would 'never' do something like fake a disease, so that's why you get away with it." 

"Don't blow my cover and you'll stay alive. You can use the phone in my dad's study. Just don't touch anything."

"Yes ma'am." He did some kind of salute and headed off to Aden Avalon's study.

He flipped through the phone book for a while till he found the number and then picked up the receiver and dialed. 

"Busy," he said to himself, "How many people can possibly be ordering pizza at ten thirty AM?" he hung up the phone, planning to call back in a minute. But then he noticed something out of the corner of his eye on the bookshelf to his left. It was a blue book with gold trim around it. He walked over and picked it up, feeling drawn to it for some reason. He picked it up and examined the cover. On the front cover was a picture of a mask smiling, and on the back was one frowning. They looked just like those you would see at a theatre or a play. He heard the door creak open and looked up to see Sakura in her pajamas with fuzzy pink bunny slippers, tapping her foot on the floor in an annoyed fashion.

"I thought I said not to touch anything." 

"Sorry Sakura. I just…had to."

"Did you order the pizza?"

"No. The line was buy."

Sakura walked over to Zachary and stood across from him.

"What's this book about?" He asked her.

Actually, that's what she'd been trying to figure out for the past two months with the help of a certain yellow beast and her partner in crime, Li Syaoran. They all agreed that it looked a lot like the Clow book.

"I don't know, but it's my fathers, so leave it alone."

"I won't hurt it. I just want to look, that's all." Before she could stop him, Zachary had somehow broken the seal. A flash of white light came from the open book, and with the sound of a sneeze (?), a bunch of cards swirled out of it and into the early afternoon breeze that was coming through the open window.

Zachary dropped the book in surprise as all this was happening.

"Next time you tell me not to do something I'll take your word for it!" he yelled over the sound of gusting wind.

"Too late now!" she yelled back.

Within a minute it was all over, or so Zachary thought. Sakura had already caught on. After all, it happened to her once already. Just as Zachary was about to go to the window to see if he could see any of the cards floating around out there, she put an arm out to hold him back.

"Wait." She said, closing her eyes, counting to ten, hoping the anger would subside.

Right on cue, a winged creature began to emerge from the book. Zachary stared in shock. Once the little beast stopped glowing, Sakura had to choke back the waves of laughter that were threatening to overtake her. It was a winged monkey.

It yawned and blinked at Sakura a couple times, who pointed to Zachary as if to say 'Don't look at me. He did it.'

By now Zachary had already began humming the theme music of the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz with a very puzzled expression on his face. That expression became even more puzzled when it flew up in his face and began to speak in a British accent.

"You're the one are you?" he seemed to be examining Zachary. Sakura finally let the laughter come. The monkey sighed. "I knew this would happen sooner or later. Right then, I'd better explain all this, hadn't I? God knows I've rehearsed this speech enough; I've only been in there the past two hundred years. Now then, my name is Quan, and…what seems to be the problem miss?" He put his paws on his hips, looking very insulted, and turned to Sakura, who was snorting back giggles.

"It's just…HA! Sorry…never mind. I'll stop."

"Thank you. Now as I was saying, my name is Quan. I am the Guardian Beast of the Book of Rhan, which you have just opened, releasing the Rhan cards on the world. Now you must capture them before they cause mass destruction, and so on, etcetera. I will be your guide, and you are my master until the end of days. Do you have any questions?"

"Yeah," Zachary said. "Is this a joke?"

Quan, looking very dapper, blinked at him again. "Why, my good boy, would I kid you about this?"

At this point Sakura snuck out to the living room to get Kero-Chan to come and see what was happening.

"What?!" he screamed. "The book of Rhan?! No Way! This I HAVE to see." He flew off to the study ahead of Sakura.


	2. Chapter 2

Finally, another chapter

Finally, another chapter!

Whoops, forgot a disclaimer in the first chapter, so here it is!

~Card captor sakura/ cardcaptors does not belong to me in any way at all. All the characters (with the exception of the ones I make up) belong to clamp and various other companies!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So tell me again why I'm the chosen one?"

Kero and Sakura arrived just as Zachary asked that.

"To capture these cards, Rahn came upon the decision that the chosen one must be one with a tremendous sense of humour, as some of them are quite, shall we say… mischievous? And by that I mean twice as bad as any of Clow Reed's cards."

"Whoa, back up! Who's Clow Reed?"

"Er, Zachary? I think we can answer that." Sakura said as Kero hovered over her left shoulder.

"Wha…? You…another one?" He looked utterly and hopelessly confused as he looked from Kero to Quan, and then back to Kero again. So what followed was an explanation from Sakura of the Clow cards, and how she and Li were the card captors.

"I can't believe you guys never even told me!"

Sakura looked at him skeptically.

Zachary snorted. "So what do I have to do?"

"It's quite simple really. Just capture all of the cards." Quan told him.

"Oh I'm sure it's 'quite simple' for you!" Zachary yelled, "I have no idea what I just got myself into!"

"A deep pile of dung my friend, that's what. These cards…" Quan sighed.

"Okay, I want an explanation of this Rahn guy right now." He looked at Quan seriously.

"Well as you know, Clow was a very talented individual when it came to all things magical. His closest friend was my master, Rahn Kaylelle. They studied their art together beginning at a young age, and were more or less inseparable. At the same time Clow was working on his cards, master Rahn was creating his, er, masterpiece. He was a very creative man he was, always finding some way or another to make himself the centre of attention. Very much like you are, no doubt. Always smiling for some reason or another, that man. That's the effect he had on most everyone I'll wager. And this trait of his was reflected in almost every card. You'll see as you capture more and more of them, he was a great jolly bloke."

Quan stopped and looked from face to face. "Cerberus, old boy! Well bless my ears, how long 'as it been?" his furry face seemed to light up as he spoke to Kero for the first time, his jaw hanging open.

"Quan! I can't believe…! You finally got released!"

"You know each other?!" Zachary and Sakura screamed.

Kero blushed as much as it's possible for someone who's yellow to blush. "Uh, yeah, about that. At the time the books were sealed, our masters did it together. They made us promise not to reveal any secrets of the other's book unless it had already been opened."

"Ancient wizards and their secrets…" Sakura trailed off, grumbling. "So you've been leading Li and I off the whole time with this thing?!"

"No I haven't! I just didn't give you any new information about it!"

"I understand Kero. It's just frustrating, that's all."

Zachary blinked a couple times.

"It's going to take me a while to get used to this."

At that very moment the doorbell rang. Sakura and Zachary looked at each other for a second before Sakura went skidding down the hall to answer the door. 

"Would you three hide?!" she yelled back at them, just before she opened the door.

"Li!" she exclaimed.

"Hi Sakura. Mind if I come in?"

"Oh, yeah sure…" she trailed off, blushing lightly. "Why are you here?" she asked him.

"I sensed something. What's going on?" Li looked at her seriously. (I don't care if that's an unlikely reason, it's my fic)

Sakura sighed. "Long story."

"Does it involve the other book?"

"Yes."

"I thought so. So what's happening?"

"Apparently our good friend Zachary has magical powers. He opened the book."

Li looked surprised, but only for a minute. Then he went back to his usual serious self. "So where is he now?"

"Talking to a flying monkey."

Li raised an eyebrow curiously. "A flying monkey?"

"Right this way." She closed the door behind him and led him to Aiden's study.

"So what do I do with this thing?"

Zachary was flailing a sword that had appeared out of nowhere back and forth.

"Careful with that! It's very powerful. You use it to seal the cards." Quan explained

"Oh I do, do I?" he stared along the blade, which was glinting slightly in the dimly lit room.

"See what I mean?" Sakura asked Li as his jaw went down slightly.

"This is sad." Li said, and raised an eyebrow as Zachary made a thrust with the sword, lost his balance and fell over with a crash. "And don't tell me, let me guess. I'm going to have to show him how to handle that thing?"

"If you don't then how's he going to capture the cards?" Sakura gave him that do-anything-for-me-because-I'm-so-cute look, and he had to give in. 

Sakura smiled to herself because she new that it got to him every time, and this time it was no different.

Li groaned and walked across the room to where Zachary was sitting on the floor.

"Slow down before you hurt yourself." He pulled Zachary up by one arm.

"What's next, an encounter with the ghost of Yoda? I can't believe this is happening to me." He looked off into space.

"You need some practice with that thing."

"I'm insulted. Are you telling me that you don't think I can handle it?"

Li gave him that condescending look. Zachary looked innocently to Sakura, who just shook her head slowly with an amused expression.

"Fine, I'll show you. Choose your weapon man, it's go time!" 

He brought the sword over his head and fell backwards. (Imagine them all sweatdropping)

~*~*~*~*~

After three straight weeks of training from right after school until nine p.m., Zachary could finally move the Sealing Sword without falling over. Madison had gone all starry-eyed at the thought of being able to make battle outfits and videotape someone again after a long time of no action, but her hopes were quickly squashed by Zachary.

"Hey Chelsea, Nikki, check out these pipes!" He ran up to them outside school and flexed the muscles that had hardly been visible three weeks ago.

"Nice stuff." Chelsea commented, looking _very_ surprised.

"What a stal." Nikki teased him.

A blush began to creep across his face. "Give it up, you know you want a piece," he joked.

Nikki rolled her eyes. 

As they went inside Li managed to edge up to him and pull him into an empty classroom.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Have you seen the new girl yet?"

"What new girl?"

"The blonde…" he paused and corrected himself, "the ONLY new girl here."

"Well OBVIOUSLY not. What's the problem, are you going to tell me she's yours or something?"

"No it's just…can't you feel it?"

"What?"

"Anything? Any kind of vibes from people? You know, that kind of thing?"

"Not that I know of. Is that a bad thing?"

"Don't worry about it. Sakura was like that in the beginning but it got easier for her to feel things."

"I still don't get what all this is about."

"Just be careful."

"As you wish, master." They walked out of the room.

~*~*~*~

"Class, settle down. HEY!"

Mr. Terada called for their attention. ( I know he's the elementary school teacher, but as always in my fics, he upgraded his teaching license to high school, ok?)

"Thank you. I'd like to introduce a new student this morning. From southern Japan, Kaylelle Torako Tenshonnaimi. Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself?"

The girl standing at the front of the room didn't look a whole lot Japanese. More English than anything, with an interesting hair-do full of bouncy blonde ringlets.

"I go by Torako." She gave the teacher an odd look. "I just moved here with my brother Saruko from Kodokuharu."

"Sounds like a cheerful place."Zachary commented. Torako narrowed her eyes at him. Li poked Zachary in the side. 

"See?" Li said.

"Torako?" Mr. Terada prompted her away from her staring contest with Zachary.

"Hmm?" she turned away.

"You can take your seat beside Kinomoto Sakura. She'll show you around the school today." 

Torako looked across the room and found Sakura's welcoming wave. She smiled and took her seat.

"Welcome to our school," Sakura whispered. "I'm Sakura. This is Madison," she paused as the two exchanged warm smiles and little waves, "Li Syaoran,"

"Li?" Torako seemed concerned by the mention of his clan's name. He held out his hand for hers, and when he had it, he kissed it, making Sakura's voice waver. Li met Torako's eyes and she quickly looked away.

"And this is Zachary."

They shook hands, with Zachary saying, "There's no way I could top _that_ first impression." It was obvious that Torako had no problem reading people from the look that he got. It was the same one Li had given Sakura when they had first met.

"If you're finished, _mister_ Yamazaki, please turn to page 437 in your textbook."

Zachary rolled his eyes at the teacher as Torako turned around and started flipping through her textbook.

"And drop the attitude Zachary."

"Yes sir!" Zachary saluted him with fake enthusiasm as the class snickered.

~*~*~*~

"Zachary!"

School was finally out, and Zachary was walking home with his friends when he heard his name being called. Torako walked up to him.

"Can we talk somewhere?_ Alone_?"

"O…kay. Go on guys, I'll catch up later."

Kobiashi snickered at the thought of a girl wanting to be "alone" with Zachary. Li grabbed Zachary's arm and gave him a meaningful look.

"Relax man, it's under control."

"If you say so." Li and Kobiashi met up with Sakura and Madison and left the two of them.

"What's this all about, Tiger Child?"

She seemed taken back when he called her that.

"What? That's your name, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"And Tenshionnami means-"

"That's enough about my name."

"And having the name Kaylelle suggests that you are related to Rahn Kaylelle, are you not?"

"I…yes. And I think you know what it is that this is about."

"You want my cards."

"No, I want _my_ cards. They aren't yours. They rightfully belong to my family, and I'm here to reclaim them."

"You'll have a tough time doing that. None of them have been captured yet."

"_What_?" She did _not_ look impressed. "I would have thought you could have at least made _some_ progress. The book has been open long enough for the cards to cause serious damage and you haven't caught a single one of them? Pathetic! This is awful!"

"You came here expecting that I'd have made progress? I couldn't even use the sealing sword three weeks ago. I had arm muscles like wet noodles, and you have the nerve to say I haven't made any progress, and that I'm pathetic? The cards haven't even done anything yet, so just relax."

"How dare you talk to me like that? I am a direct descendant of Rhan Kaylelle-"

Zachary dug down into his pocket and pulled out several quarters.

"Here, call someone who cares." He dropped them into her hand and began to walk away.

~*~*~*~

A/N

Ok, from what I've researched, here are (hopefully correct) the meanings of the names of the new characters:

Tora=tiger

Ko=child

Tenshi=angel

Onna=girl/woman

Mi=beauty

Saru=monkey

Ko=child

Kodoku=solitude

Haru=sunny days

If I'm wrong, somebody please correct me now! And for people who read this like, a year after I start writing it, I'll say it RIGHT NOW, I KNOW I am not positive of the meanings, so don't yell at me! And by the way, Kobiashi is one of their classmates that is mentioned in the first movie, incase anybody was wondering or didn't already know. Short chapter eh? Tah tah for now!


	3. A very angry chapter

"How dare you talk to me like that

"Zachary! You can't just walk away from me!" Torako seemed to be loosing her patience.

"Just watch me." He yelled, without even turning around.

"Wait." 

"Okay, imagine that there's a wall separating us. You can't see me, and I can't see you. The wall is soundproof so I can't hear you either."

"Aargh! Quit being so difficult!"

"Wall, that's all!!!" he yelled.

"Fine! Be like that! See if I care. I'll capture the cards by myself!"

"Can't hear you!"

Torako threw her hands up and stomped off in the other direction towards her apartment.

When she got home she slammed the door, making Saruko (her brother) jump.

"Bad first day?" He questioned her from the kitchen.

"You have no idea." She sighed, flopping down onto the couch.

"Well it'll only get worse."

"That sure was an encouraging thing to say." She brushed a strand of golden hair out of her eyes.

"There's plenty more where that came from. So spill the beans, what's he like?"

"How did you know it was a he?" she raised a curious eyebrow at him. "Anyways, it turns out that he's a pathetic idiot who doesn't have a clue what he's doing."

"That must mean you like him." Saruko said after taking a sip of his cappuccino.

"Actually, he's just like you." She challenged him.

"Hey now Angel, that's uncalled for."

"Don't call me that. And stop changing the subject. He hasn't caught any of the cards. He doesn't even care who I am."

"I bet you're wrong. He probably cares a lot about who you are, but he just doesn't want to show it outwardly."

"If you say so."

"I do."

"Humph. Well I have something else interesting to tell you about. There was also another boy at school today. His name is Li Syaoran."

"Li? As in-"

"I think so. He kissed my hand. I could feel he knew who I was right away, which means he probably knows about the cards too. That idiot Zachary probably told him."

"Oh, so the idiot has a name, huh? Well, I wouldn't worry too much about the Li kid. He has bigger fish to fry. He's been helping the captor of the Clow cards for many years now."

"How do you know all of this, Saruko?"

"The bond of friendship between our families goes back many generations. Plus I've been chatting with one of his sisters online for a couple years now. We were friends when we were kids, but after …well, you know, that bond began to fall apart quickly between our families. We still wanted to be friends, his sister and I, but our family was forbidden from contact with the Li clan."

"This could be a problem. He's bound to hold ill- will towards us. We are the reason his father died." Torako sighed.

"Don't let it bother you now. That's all in the past, and it happened when you were too young to remember anyways. The Li's are the unreasonable ones, not us. His father made a choice to put himself in a dangerous situation, and when a person does that you can't always expect the best."

"I know that! But the look he gave me…it made me feel like it was all my fault."  
  


"Well it isn't, and anyone who says it is has a date with my brass knuckles."

"You don't have brass knuckles."

"You get the point."

"I still don't understand why he kissed my hand though." She looked curiously into space.

"He probably knew it would intimidate you, because you wouldn't know why he did it. Either that or he's just a big show-off."

"Hmm mm. I can't help feeling bad though."

"FORGET about it. It doesn't have anything to do with you so you have nothing to worry about. You just concentrate on getting those cards."

"Who made you Master of the Universe? I'll concentrate on whatever I choose, thank you very much." 

"Hey, I was just trying to help. And by the way, you shouldn't be thinking about your new teacher that way. It's dirty."

"Humph. I hate you when you do that!" She stood up and stalked down the hall to her room.

Saruko sighed when she slammed the door. "Girls. Of all the people that could have gone with her, I got the chore." He ran his hand through his spiked blonde hair.

"I heard that!" came a shout from inside her room, followed by the sound of what was probably a shoe hitting the door.

~*~*~*~

"So what did she say?"

Sakura, Zachary, Li, Madison, Kero and Quan were all sitting around the living room of Li's apartment.

"She told me that she was here to take what rightfully belongs to her family. Then she got all high and mighty like she owned the world or something, and I had to put an invisible wall between us."

"Okay, I just won't ask about that wall thing." Madison said.

"It's probably best that way." Zachary told him.

"She sounds a lot like somebody I know." Sakura threw a sideways glance towards Li.

"Well what was I supposed to do?! Would you have given them up if I just tapped you on the shoulder and said "Excuse me? Would you be so kind as to hand over the Clow cards?"

"No, but I didn't give them up anyways."

"Erm, if I could just interrupt this little trip down memory lane folks? Li, what's the deal with that girl? Is she an old girlfriend or something?"

"Huh? No, what makes you think that?!" Li lost his cool for probably the first time in his entire life.

"Well, how come you kissed her hand?"

Li blushed. He could feel Sakura's eyes on his back. "Well, I…erm…it's the customary way of greeting a noblewoman of England."

"England?" Madison seemed awestruck.

"Noblewoman?" Sakura seemed surprised. "Li Syaoran, you have some explaining to do! You've been leading me off the whole time with that book too haven't you?!"

"It's not as simple as that, okay Sakura?" he said frustratedly.

"Not that simple? You didn't say anything about Rhan the whole time, and you already know all about this girl?!"

"You weren't meant to open it anyways, okay?! And it isn't that simple, so just get over it!" he stood up and began to pace the kitchen.

"Li, I'm sorry I got mad. You're right, I wasn't. If you have something important hidden it's usually for a good reason."

"Thank you." He sat down again.

"So as you were saying?What about this girl being a noblewoman from England?" Zachary prompted him.

"Well," Li began, "Obviously Kaylelle is not an oriental name, so there's your first clue Sherlock. Give your guardian beast a good listen and tell me his accent isn't English. Rhan Kaylelle was part of an old English wizard family. Where they came from, they were royalty, as far as wizards go. I mean, they had a castle and everything.

Unfortunately for them, they sold quite a bit of their property to people who formed a town, and turned out to be a community who liked a good witch-hunt from time to time. The only things I know are the stories I've been told, but what I've heard is that the elders used magic to conceal the castle, and they decided to go into hiding until people lost interest in hunting down witches. All this happened when he was sixteen years old. They travelled east, until they came to Hong Kong. That's where they settled, and that's where he met Clow and they became best friends. They did almost everything together, and after a long time Rhan and Clow's sister fell in love and got married. They stayed in China until they were old, but Rahn wanted to see his old home again, so they took their family back to England. After that the family kept two homes, the castle for summers in England, and another estate for winters in Hong Kong."

"So…since Torako has the blood of Rahn's family and Clow's family, does that mean that she has all of their magical strength combined?" Sakura thought out loud.

"No." Quan spoke, "Clow's sister was common, not a drop of magical blood in her."

"Hey, that's my relative you're talking about!" Li growled at the monkey.

"Well it's the truth, unless you count her kindness and beauty as magic." He grinned nervously.

"That's better." Li said.

"So Li, you're related to her?"

"Yes."

"I guess that explains the freaky similarities between you two," Sakura said.

"Well, now that that's settled," began Madison, "It's time for Zachary to pick out a design for his battle outfit!" her eyes went all starry, and Zachary got a huge sweat drop.

~*~*~*~

The next day was Saturday. Torako was woken up early (Well it was early for a Saturday) at eleven by the door slamming. She groaned and curled into a ball, trying to go back to sleep when she heard Saruko's voice.

"Torako, visitors! Wakey wakey little sister!"he sang in a weird voice.

She sat up and ran her hand through her squashed hair. "Coming." She croaked as she pulled on a bathrobe to cover up her pyjamas.

"Look who I found this morning when I took a leisurely stroll down to the market? Some of your friends from school, I believe?" He gave her a grin and left the room.

"How did you know I knew them?" She yelled to him.

"I know everything!"

"Right, I forgot." She rolled her eyes at the wall

"Like for instance I know that you probably just rolled your eyes at me, didn't you?"

Sakura and Madison stood in the doorway uneasily.

"It looks like we caught you at a bad time. Maybe we should leave." Sakura said.

"No, no it's alright. I had to get up anyways. What have you got there, Madison?"

Madison was holding a bag full of fabric for Zachary's outfit. "Oh, just some new material. I want to be a fashion designer."

"Oh. Well come in, have a seat."

"We thought it was a bit weird, your brother just inviting us up like that out of the blue. It was a little creepy, if you know what I mean." Sakura said.

"Oh! Don't worry about Saruko." She paused, and said with a grin, "He's gay."

"No I'm not." He said from the living room. "Mom said if you don't stop telling people that, she's going to ship you off to a leper colony."

"See? Gay. Anyways, what shall our topic of conversation be?"

"Well…you and Zachary. You're going to have to work together to capture the cards." Sakura said.

"That's what you all think. I have no intention of sharing the cards with him."

"Whether you like it or not that's the way it's going to work. I was just trying to save you some trouble by telling you now."

"Well, I think now that you've said that, it's time for the two of you to be getting home. Bye." She waved and ushered them out the door. "See you at school on Monday." She closed the door.

"Well, that was a bit rude." Sakura muttered, but Madison wasn't listening. She was in her own little fantasy world at the moment. Sakura knocked on the door again to do one last thing before she left.

~*~*~*~

"_You WHAT_?"

"Got her to agree to meet us all at your house tonight."

"When did you ask me if that was alright?"

"I didn't, I'm sorry, but I had to get her to meet us somewhere, and your house is the best for keeping this a secret."

It was Monday morning and Sakura had just broken the news to Li. 

"Let me just tell you something Sakura. Torako and I are like two toxic chemicals. You shouldn't mix us up unless you know what you're doing, because there might just be an explosion. There's something between us that couldn't possibly understand, not in a million years."

"Well I'm sorry I'm so stupid okay? I really am."

"Sakura, I don't think you're stupid. It's just…well, it's something between our families, and I don't feel like bringing it up."

"I'm sorry."

"You didn't know. So to change the subject, what's wrong with Madison?"

"Oh, I'm not sure. Every time I ask her she goes red and says it's nothing. She's been like that most of the weekend."

"Maybe it's a Clow card." Li joked.

"Maybe it's a Rhan card." Sakura said seriously.

~*~*~

"Come in."

Li took the dripping wet raincoat that Torako had been wearing a moment ago and hung it behind the door with a sigh.

"Torako, Hi!" Sakura greeted her.

"Hello. Did I miss anything?" she sounded a bit uncomfortable.

"No, nothing. Zachary isn't even here yet. He's not exactly Mr. Punctuality." Madison said. "So, is your brother coming?"

Everyone in the room turned around and stared at her with that expression that says "huh?"

"No, why would he?"

"Oh, I don't know. I wonder where Zachary is?" she said, changing the subject.

Five seconds later there was a knock on the door.

"Speak of the devil, there he is!" Madison laughed, apparently relieved.

"Sorry I'm late. There was an emergency down at the hospital and they wouldn't let me go until I preformed _another_ double bypass brain transplant. Sakura, Madison, Li, Flying Rat, Torako." He nodded to them all in greeting (in case you didn't guess, Kero was the flying rat). Quan flew out of his backpack.

"I say, your lunch shouldn't be kept in there more than a day, let alone two months. Do you have any idea how disgusting that is?" he wrinkled his nose.

"I don't know how much more of this I can take." Zachary said, giving Quan the look. "Li, what's wrong?"

Everyone turned to Li, who had a very creepy expression on his face for a second, and then he shook his head and looked normal again. "Nothing, I just got this weird feeling," he said, and chuckled to himself.

"Oh. Well let's get on with this little get-together, hmm?" Zachary said. "Why are we all here?"

Madison bent over and began pulling things out of a big plastic bag beside her on the floor. "Well, this is your battle outfit, and as you requested, it doesn't look gay."

"I'll be the judge of that, thank you." He gathered up all the stuff that Madison had lain out and went to the bathroom to change.

"Torako, I just have to ask you this. Do you need any battle outfits? Pleeeease say yes? I'd absolutely LOVE to make them for you." Madison begged her.

"Um, maybe?" Torako sweat dropped.

With no warning, Li burst into a fit of giggles. 

"Li, what's wrong with you?" Sakura asked him.

"I (hee hee hee) don't (har!) know! (Snort)"

"Well I don't see what's so funny." Madison said, insulted.

"I bet I know what's going on." Torako said. "Li, you're mother's a fat cow."

In response, Li just laughed harder. 

"Torako, that was uncalled for!" Sakura yelled at her. To make things worse, Zachary came into the room with half his outfit on to see what was so funny, sending Li onto the floor.

"Oh that's _real_ encouraging Li, thanks." Zachary said.

"That's not it. Something's wrong with him!" Madison told him.

"Can't you see?" Torako looked at Zachary like he was an idiot. "It's a card! I would have thought at least the monkey could tell!"

Li was now laughing so hard that he had tears in his eyes and his face was going red from lack of air.

Torako jumped out of her chair and grabbed the amulet she was wearing around her neck. "Release!"

In a flash of green light, a golden staff appeared in her hands. At each end was a green orb surrounded by five gold rings, floating in place, held by some invisible force.

"Giggle Card! Reveal yourself in your true form!" She pointed the staff towards Li, and a smoky blue image of a feathery bird exploded out of his mouth with his last howl of laughter. It circled around the room once, then started heading for Madison.

"NO! Return to your power confined, Giggle Card!" She spun the staff in the air over her head making a vortex of wind, which sucked the form of The Giggle card into it. When the wind died down, a card in shades of blue and gold appeared, glimmering in the air, and floated into her waiting hand.

The others stared at her, windblown with shocked looks as Li gasped for air.

"Yamazaki?" She turned to Zachary, "You need to get on top of things or you'll never capture any of the cards. I'll beat you to them every time." She looked at the card with satisfaction.

"I guess this means I won't have any time to work on my website?"

She turned away from him and back to the three people on the floor. 

"Why did the card target Li, Torako?" Sakura asked, still watching Li gulp down air.

"Quan should be able to answer that question, but he seems a bit speechless right now, so I'll tell you. It seems to me that Li is a very serious boy who doesn't let loose very often. The Giggle effects people who need a good laugh by giving it to them, as you saw. Uncaptured, there's no telling when it will stop. Have you ever heard the phrase "almost died laughing"? Now Li can use that and it will be true. Do you see why it's so important to capture these cards now Zachary? Some of them could have deadly effects."

"Why would Rahn make cards that are deadly?" Li asked.

"Under normal conditions, when they have a master, they aren't, because they can be controlled. The only ones that are possibly deadly are the very first ones he made, because he was inexperienced. He didn't know how powerful they were when he made them."

"Well that just makes me feel SO much better." 

"Look, is there any particular reason you wanted me to be here Sakura, or can I go home now?" Torako asked sceptically.

"Yes, there is a reason. Please, work together with Zachary. In the end it'll save a lot of trouble. If you don't believe me, ask Li. You two are so much alike. Why not learn from your cousin's mistakes? He…what's wrong?"

Torako's gaze had shifted from Sakura to Li, and she didn't look too satisfied with herself now.

"You told them?" she questioned him quietly.

"Torako, I-"

"I can't believe you would do that to me! I'll see you all at school tomorrow. I'm sorry."

She lowered her head as she walked towards the door. She put on her raincoat and was just reaching or the knob when 

Zachary jumped in front of her and grabbed it before she could.

"Oh no you don't. You're not leaving until this is settled."

"SHUT UP! I don't have to settle anything with you so just leave me alone!" She grabbed his arm and tried to wrench him off the doorknob. He grabbed her arm and tried to pull her off of his. Amazingly Zachary's strength won out over hers and he managed to wrestle her (kicking and scratching) to the ground.

He leaned close to her face, her eyes scrunched up. "We are going to _settle this tonight_." He said with an air of finality as he pinned her to the linoleum.

Torako opened her eyes to find Zachary about three inches away from her face.

"Get_off." She said through gritted teeth as a tear ran down her cheek and she tried to push him away.

"Huh?" his expression turned to surprise. "How did I make _her_ cry?" he wondered as he sat up and got off her. He reached out his hand to help her up, but she totally ignored it and pulled herself to her feet. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve as she opened the door.

"Goodnight." She stepped out and slammed it behind her, leaving her raincoat on the floor.

Zachary turned and looked from face to face around the room. "Does somebody want to tell me what all of this is about? Li? What was she talking about? I feel really bad now…" he looked at the ground.

"Don't." Li said. "It's my fault. I have to catch her."

Without another word, he jammed his feet into a pair of shoes and took off into the rain.

~*~*~**~

"Torako! Stop, I have to talk to you! Torako!" Li ran after her through the park. She finally gave up and collapsed on the floor of the pavilion, the only place remotely dry in sight.

Li went up the steps cautiously. He didn't know exactly what he was going to say.

"Torako, I…I didn't tell them about…you know…"

"Well what exactly did you tell them?"

Li sat down beside his distant cousin. "I told them that Rahn was married to Clow's sister. That's all."

"But I thought…you didn't tell them about my…father?"

Li took a deep breath. It was as hard for him to talk about as it was for her. It was also hard for him to bring comfort to someone he was supposed to hate with every shard of his existence.

"No, but you know that they'll have questions after that scene. We should just tell them. Trust me Torako, they aren't the kind of people who would persecute _you_ for what happened back then."

"But…I don't want to…It's not exactly the kind of thing I want to go flashing around."

"I know, but you can trust them."

Torako stood up and walked to the edge of the pavilion. "Aren't you supposed to hate me? I seem to remember something about an all-important family feud." She sniffled.

"Yes, I guess I am. But I've been thinking, what's the point? It isn't really your fault entirely."

"What?"

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, I don't see why I should hold a grudge against you. Nothing good comes out of it. So I guess…let's be friends?"

"Really?"

There was a moment's hesitation, but then they hugged, and Torako laughed a little bit. "You know, I was so afraid that you hated me that I didn't stop to think that you might not."

"Hmmm. Well, we have some explaining to do. We'd better get back to my apartment before we die of hypothermia and Zachary dies of guilt."

"What?"

"Oh, he thinks he made you cry."

Torako snickered as they walked back out into the rain.

"So I guess we have some catching up to do. I heard that you and Melin are-"

"DON'T even get me started about her." Li rolled his eyes and chuckled. "That got cancelled."

"Oh, I'm sorry." 

"Don't be, it's the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Torako laughed. "So I'm not the only cousin you have problems with."

"Hey, forget about it. By the way, thanks for saving my life. I honestly did feel like I was going to black out or something. It felt good though, for the first minute or two."

"You got the message though, didn't you?"

"Hey, don't go trying to make this into one of those educational stories. You'll scare all the readers away."

They were at the door of Li's apartment. They suddenly became very serious and both took a deep breath, getting ready to tell the five beings inside the biggest secret of their lives. 

"Ready?" Li asked

"Ready."

They joined hands, and Li opened the door…

~*~*~*~*~

Don't you just hate cliffhanger endings? Catch ya later!


	4. A very short chapter

"How dare you talk to me like that

"You're back! Both of you?" Zachary's mouth formed an O of surprise. "Torako I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Save it," she said simply, but not spitefully. 

"What's going on you two?" Madison asked them, seeing that they had joined hands.

"Yeah, what's the big secret? " Zachary asked. Sakura didn't say anything.

Li took another deep breath.

"Okay, we have something to tell you all. You all know my father died not long after I was born. What I haven't told you all these years is how." He paused. "Torako?" He looked at her, and she looked back at him for a second, and then started to tell the rest of the story. By now everyone was listening with interest.

"Before I was born, strange things began to happen to my father. He started to change somehow, but not for the better. He became frightening, and he would lock himself in his study for days on end. Strange voices came from the room, and other days he would just start talking to himself, quarrelling with the voices inside his head, and he had hallucinations too. The clan chose to ignore it, because it would hurt our reputation if it got out that there was an insane man in the family. His condition got worse and worse, until one night he came home raving about the devil. On that night the Li's were visiting. My father saw everybody in the room as demons. He took a samurai sword from the rack of weapons we kept, and took it upon himself to…get rid of the 'demons'. I would have had two sisters and three brothers, but Li's father couldn't stop him until only two brothers were left. Heroically Li-san risked his life defending my family, but in the end there was no winner. Li-san died on our living room floor, and my father died shortly after that."

As she ended her story, every mouth in the room was now shaped like an O.

"Torako…I'm sorry." Sakura said quietly.

"I would never have guessed in a million years." Zachary said, staring ahead of him with a blank expression..

"Oh my," Madison was speechless.

There was a long pause. Torako looked at Li in distress, as if to say, "See? I told you they would react badly". In response he squeezed her hand encouragingly, at the same time wondering how it was possible that he cold be standing there like that with someone whom he hated only hours ago.

Sakura got off the couch and walked up to Torako. After a second, she gave her a huge hug. "Don't worry Torako, you can't be blamed for what happened, and we know that."

"Thank you Sakura." Torako hugged her back. "I think I should go home now though."

"Me too. Thanks for the costume Madison. Kudos on not making it look gay, huh? See you guys tomorrow." He stuffed it into his backpack along with Quan, put on his coat and went out the door without another word.

"Well that was strange." Sakura said. "Anyways, see you tomorrow Torako."

"Bye Torako!" Madison said, "Don't forget about those costumes!"

"Erm, sure." She sweatdropped.Just before she closed the door she said one last thing. "Little Wolf?"

Li looked over in surprise. "What?"

"Don't miss out on the laughter, hmm?"

At that he gave her one of those rare smiles. "For sure, Tiger Child. I don't think I could ever forget after tonight."

She closed the door behind her.

"You know, I think this is one cousin I might be able to stand." Li said thoughtfully.

~*~*~*~*~

Ping………….Ping…………..Ping

Torako rode the elevator down to the front entrance, and when she got out, she was surprised to see Zachary still standing there, looking out the glass doorway into the pouring rain.

"Hi again." He said.

"Yamazaki? What are you doing here still?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Waiting." He replied.

"What for?"

"The end of the world." He said, without even looking at her. "I'll walk you home?"

"Uh, no thanks."

"Come on, I'm going that way anyways."

"That's alright."

"I have an umbrella and you don't." he had a teasing look in his eyes

"No you don't."

"I do now." He said as he grabbed hers and held it behind his back.

Torako sighed. "Okay, I guess you win this round. Let's go."

They walked for five minutes in complete silence, except for the sound of the rain, and their shoes squishing. Suddenly Zachary broke the silence.

"That must have been hard for you, to tell a bunch of people who are pretty much strangers something that…deep."

"Believe me, it was."

"Well, I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other from now on."

"I guess."

"Sooo, how about a truce? Let's stop fighting."

"You mean like, be friends?"

Zachary nodded.

"Well…I guess that would be okay. But I'm still going to capture those cards."

"That's what you think." 

They both grinned at each other. 

"This is my building." Torako said. They walked up to the doors.

"I guess this is goodbye then?"

"Yeah, I'd say so." She put her hand around the umbrella handle above Zachary's. 

They looked at each other in silence, which was interrupted by an English voice from inside his backpack.

"Are you two going to kiss or what? Because if you're not then hurry up. It's bloody cold out here."

"Ahe." Both of them laughed and looked away.

"I'm going to go inside now."

"Oh…okay. See you tomorrow." He let go of the umbrella (finally) and watched Torako go inside.

Zachary walked back out into the rain and instantly realized something.

"Crap." He muttered.

He didn't have an umbrella.

~*~*~*~

Wow, that was quick. Ok I know it was short, but I promise, the next one will be longer.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Four

A/N: Yay! Finally another chapter! Okies people, there's references later on in this one that probably only people who've read Harry Potter will totally get, but that shouldn't matter too much. I guess I should stick in a disclaimer right about now huh? Harry Potter and CCS do not belong to me AT ALL! Enjoy chapter five, and please review ^_^.

Chapter Five

"You're fond of her, aren't you?" Zachary heard for about the millionth time since they'd gotten home.

"No Way! She's an awful witch! Now stop asking me that."

"As a matter of fact she's the most powerful witch in the world, next to your Sakura of course."

"Of course." Zachary rolled his eyes. "You know, you're getting to be pretty annoying. You're lucky I haven't donated you to charity yet. I'm starting to think maybe _you're_ the one who likes her."

"Don't be absurd." Quan crossed his arms in front of him and raised his nose in the air. "I couldn't possibly."

"Whatever you say, my liege." Zachary flipped the channel and took a sip of his soda, while Quan flew muttering to himself all the way to Zachary's room.

~At Torako's…

"So you told them huh?"

Torako had just finished telling her brother all about what happened at Li's house, and about her first capture, even though she knew that he'd probably already know about half of it. 

"Yep, and they didn't care. They really are nice people. Zachary called a truce when we were walking home. I decided to give him a chance."

"And our favourite cousin?" Saruko questioned her.

"He…I…well…he wants to be friends…kind of. " Torako had no idea how her brother would react. She guessed it wouldn't be well.

"Friends?" he snorted.

"What? What's so funny?" Torako said heatedly.

"Oh nothing, it's just that I'm sure our families will love this."

"They won't be finding out about it if you value your life." She glared at him.

"We'll see. We'll see. So where's the card?" he changed the subject quickly.

Torako took the blue and silver coloured card out of her side bag and waved it in front of him like it was a trophy. "The first card to show itself, and I captured it all by myself," she bragged.

"Nice job."

"That's it? Nice job?!" Torako had expected a bit more interest.

"Well, what else do you want me to say? It's not like it was an amazing capture. The Giggle is the easiest card of all of them to get. Let me know when you capture, say, any of the cards that have a useful purpose. Then you'll see some enthusiasm."

"Aargh! You're so difficult!!!!"

"You should be used to that by now."

"I give up." She threw her hands up. "I've got homework. Don't bother me."

Torako stalked off to her room and slammed the door (again!). She sat on her bed and looked around the place. It didn't look nearly as nice as her room at home. Her canopy bed looked out of place in a room with such a low ceiling. Through her window she could always see the streetlights shining, not at all like at home. Their manor was set far back from the road, and it was usually fairly quiet. At that moment a fire truck went by noisily. Torako sighed. She respected her family, and the fact that she had a duty to perform, but sometimes she wished that she were part of a normal family, that stayed in one place, oblivious to magic. She'd lived all over the world already, and she was only fifteen! When she was born they were still living in China, but soon after, they left. Her mother hated the way the neighbours would talk about what happened to their father whenever she walked by. After that it was over to England for a while, until she felt she needed a change of scenery. So then they lived in Canada until Torako was eight years old. Then the family decided that Torako needed to be in China and England again, to better learn about her cultural heritage and the family history that she would have to dedicate her life to. That's why she was so aggressive when it came to the Rahn Cards. She'd spent most of her life preparing for the moment when the book would be opened and the cards needed capturing. Suddenly this boy who knew nothing about them was making all of that work pointless. No, she wouldn't stand for it. She would be friendly to him, but when it came to capture the cards, any friendship with him would be forgotten. Torako sighed again. She pulled out the card and looked at it.  
"I wish you could know what I gave up for you. For my family."

Torako laughed at herself. Why was she talking to the card? It wasn't like she was expecting it to talk back. She put it into a deep green velvet bag and pulled the gold tassels to close it. She set the bag next to the picture frame on her desk and then changed into her pyjamas, thinking about everyone in Kodokuharu, wondering what they might be doing there now as she fell asleep. 

~*~*~*~*~The next day

"I want an explanation."

Chelsea was not impressed by the fact that Zachary had been ignoring her for almost a month now.

"I, I've just been busy!" he shrugged and looked behind him, searching for some way out of this confrontation. "Nikki would you mind going away for a minute? How come when people put you in fics you're always together? You know, there were once these two Hebrew monks and one was suspected of stealing a man's cow, and since they were always together naturally-"

"ENOUGH! I'll go." Nikki groaned and then practically ran away from them.

"That's better."

Chelsea crossed her arms in front of her and gave Zachary one of those weird looks that are supposed to mean something.

"What's going on Zachary? Don't lie to me." She tapped her foot on the ground.

"I have been busy." He said solemnly.

"It's not just that! I know it isn't. You've changed somehow. You always seem to be able to make time for Li. You've been doing stuff with him after school every day and it's like you have some big secret that Sakura and Madison know about too.What's going on?"

"It's nothing, really. I'm sorry, I swear I'll make it up to you somehow. I just really have a lot of things going on right now." 

Chelsea looked skeptical.

Zachary looked behind him again, struggling to come up with a better answer. "I…uh, I'm finding things out about myself that I never new before…it's uh, really…something I shouldn't be talking about with you, if you know what I mean. It's kind of…personal." He did some weird thing with his face to make it look like he was implying something.

"You aren't lying? I mean…sorry…I guess. I don't really know what you're talking about but you're going to let me make my own conclusions aren't you?"

Zachary nodded. 'Please yes' he thought, 'make up your own excuse for me, It's so much easier to let you think what you want to.'

"I think I understand." She leaned close to his ear. "_Zachary, are you gay?"_

Zachary was a bit worried that she came up with _that_ guess so quickly. "Erm, don't go telling people that, okay? I wouldn't want them to get the wrong idea." 

"Your secret's safe."

"I know it is. Thanks for understanding." He kissed her on the cheek and then walked away, leaving her almost completely confused.

Great, he thought, I got away without telling her, but I didn't exactly lie to her either. But at the same time another part of him wished he could tell her the truth. 

Wait a minute, he thought to himself. Why can't I tell her the truth anyways? It's not like the ground will open up under me and I'll be sucked into the fiery pits of…yeah, I will tell her!

"Chelsea!" he ran back to her, which confused her even more. "I have to tell you the truth."

"Truth? But I thought-"

"I just wanted to let you think that because it was so much easier to let you think up your own story. Promise not to tell anybody?"

Chelsea nodded.

"The truth is…I'm a card captor."

"What? What's that supposed to mean?" Chelsea quirked an eyebrow.

"There are these magical cards I have to capture. Li's been helping me get in shape so I don't fall on my face every time I try to capture one. That's what's _really_ been going on. I swear to god."

"I don't believe this." Chelsea said with an absent looking expression on her face.

"I know, I-"

"First you let me think you were gay, and now you're telling me that you're some kind of, super hero?! I can see that I'm not going to get the truth out of you today. When you're ready to tell me what's _really_ going on, then come see me." She crossed her arms and turned away from him.

"Chels! Come o…don't do this! I told you the truth! I swear on my love for fried chicken, honest!"

"That's the problem with you _Yamazaki_." she glared at him. "You always have to be so funny even when someone's trying to be serious with you." Chelsea walked away from him briskly, without turning back, leaving Zachary standing in the middle of the courtyard with his mouth open, searching for something to say that would make her stop, and for once actually feeling as if he'd told one too many stories.

About five seconds later Li was standing beside him.

"Woman problems? Anything I can do to help?" Li raised an eyebrow.

"Just shut up. It's not like you know anything about them either." His shoulders were slouched, and he had a disgusted look on his face as he turned to Li.

"You told her, didn't you?"

"Yes, if you feel you really have to bother me about it. She didn't believe me." He grumbled and started walking towards the school.

"We all told you not to Zachary. With the stories you tell all the time, it's no wonder she didn't believe you."

"I thought if anyone would, she would. She can always tell when I'm making something up. At least I thought she could." Zachary gave one of those sad, worried, anxious anime-style looks to the ground.

"She'll cool off."

"I'll repeat this in case you didn't hear. It's not like you know anything about them either. Just look at you and Sakura! Even _I_ can see-"

"Huh? See what? I don't know what you're talking about! I do not!"

"N-nothing." Zachary pulled himself back from the threshold of death (caused by Sakura) as they sat down at their desks. "I just…well…you know that four letter word that can get you into trouble?"

"Which one?" Li asked innocently.

Zachary sweat dropped. "That…fuzzy pink one…you know?"

"I think I do." Sakura said from behind them. "So guys, what's the topic of conversation this morning?"

"Sakura!" Li almost had a heart attack. "How long have you been sitting there?!" hopefully not long enough to hear that last outburst, he thought.

"Oh, since about, September." She said, just to tease him, smiling knowingly. "What's up?"

"Zachary told Chelsea. She didn't believe it."

"Oh no. Zachary, we told you not t-"

"YES! We've already been through all of that." He nearly yelled, with an aggravated expression.

"Humph. And that fuzzy pink word? What's that about?"

"I think…I…might have broken the poor girl's heart." He came up with.

"Zachary." Sakura gave him the look. 

"What?!" He looked totally appalled that she would even suggest that he was lying.

"I think, that you just don't want anybody to know that you feel, erm, fuzzy-pink for someone. Right?"

"Yes! No, yes, I mean no! I mean…ohh." Zachary moaned and let his head fall to the desk with a thump.

Sakura smiled sympathetically while Li tried to keep from letting out even the teeniest snort.

"Zachary, it's okay you know. It's not like it's a bad thing. I think it's very sweet." She gave Li a sideways glance.

"Thanks, Sakura, because you know what _every_ guy wants is to be sweet." He said sarcastically.

Madison came to her desk at that moment. "Hi everyone." Her voice smiled as much as her face did. "Oh, what's wrong Zachary?" 

In response he just groaned and buried his head in his arms.

So Li and Sakura explained to her, and then to Torako when she came in, of course leaving out the fuzzy-pink part.

"Oh, I'm sorry Zachary." Torako said when they finished. He just waved the comment away as if saying that there was nothing to be sorry for, he had it coming.At least that's what he kept telling himself.

The bell rang to start the class and Mr. Terada immediately gave them a stack of stuff to work through for the rest of the class, which was probably also enough to last till the end of the week. About half an hour into the class Zachary heard his name.

"Pssst! Zachary!" Torako whispered to get his attention. He looked over at her and she handed him her eraser with a note hidden behind it so the teacher wouldn't see.

"Zachary, Torako? What's that?" Mr. Terada had caught them.

"Oh, Zachary just asked to borrow my eraser sir."

"Alright."

Zachary unfolded the note after a few seconds and read;

_Zachary, _

_I don't see why, but my brother wants to meet you and Quan. Can you come to my place tonight right after school?_

_~Torako_

He gave her back her eraser and nodded when she looked at him. This could be interesting, he thought.

Torako couldn't believe that she'd just invited one of her nemeses to dinner on behalf of her other nemesis. She rolled her eyes as she thought that to herself, and then started to work again.

~*~*~*~*~

Zacharylooked up the listing of numbers, looking for Torako's apartment. He finally found it and pressed the button. 

"Yes?" Torako's voice came over the intercom.

"It's me," he said.

With a loud buzz and a click that made him nearly jump out of his skin, the door unlocked.

He took the elevator up to the fourth floor. The whole time, an arrogant looking guy in a suit kept looking down his nose at Zachary, who waved to the man and then started talking to his "invisible friend" in hushed tones.

He knocked on the door and Torako answered it with a towel wrapped around her head.

"Hi," he said. "We aren't too early, are we?"

"No, except Saruko isn't even finished school yet. Come in." She moved aside to let Zachary in to the condo. "Where's the primate?"

"Sleeping." He poked his backpack in disgust. "What a leech. All he ever does is eat, sleep, and complain that I'm "Positively atrocious."

"Ha.Well you can leave him on the couch if you like."

"I like. So, why am I here?" he got to the point quickly.

"Well the truth is, I don't know. Honestly, I think my brother is insane, no offence. He dragged Sakura and Madison off the street to come up here a few days ago without even being introduced to them first. They told me that if they hadn't seen the resemblance between us they would have probably run and called the police on him."

"Hmm. Well, it's too late for me to turn back now. I guess I'll just have to try to live through it."

"Good luck." She dried her hair off a bit more and then went out of the room to put the towel in the bathroom. "So, I guess I should show you around. My brother said that it's okay with him if we meet here sometimes, since he already knows all about everything. Obviously, this is the hall," 

"I knew it!" Zachary exclaimed.

Torako groaned, and led him around the place. "This is the living room." She showed him the room that was full of state-of-the-art electronics.

"Hey cool, Nintendo!" he started to sprint for it but Torako pulled him back in time.

"Moving along…this is the kitchen. Saruko's room is down there," She gestured to a closed door with a 'radioactive' sign hung on it, "And a storage room." She led him around the partition between the kitchen and the living room and down a hallway opposite Saruko's room.

"This is the bathroom." She flicked the light on in a room to her left and the bathroom decorated in blue, silver, and probably fake marble came into view. 

"Classay." Zachary nodded.

She pointed to the room on the right. "That's the laundry room. Nothing exciting in there, unless you count the dryer lint."

She opened the door to the room at the end of the hall. "This is my room." She flicked on the light and went in. Everything was decorated in shades of crimson and gold, and all of the furniture looked like antique cherry wood. 

"Hey, this looks even nicer than the bathroom. Who's the decorator?" His eyes went up to the ceiling.

"I am. Thanks. My mom hates it." She turned around to face the mirror on her dresser and started to brush her hair.

"Hey, parents are supposed to hate their kid's taste in almost everything. That's the way it's been forever."

"Huh. That I can believe. Have a seat."

Zachary obediently sat down in the chair at her desk and started looking at stuff. Even the lava lamp sitting there was red inside. He was just about to flip open the book that was sitting there when Torako picked it up out of his hand.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." She opened the top drawer of her dresser and slid it inside.

"What-oh, I see. Anything about me in there?" he quirked an eyebrow teasingly.

"I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." 

"Hey, that's my saying." He turned back to her desk. It was weird, he had the feeling that Torako could be a lot more fun if she'd just relax a bit "Who's this?" he carefully picked up the gold picture frame and looked at it.

"What? Oh, that…that's Jared."

"Oh." He looked at the picture again. It was one of Torako and a guy who had hair darker blond than hers, sitting on the grass with part of a roller coaster behind them. She was sitting in front of his crossed legs leaning back on him. He had his arms around hers, and she was holding on to his hands in front of her. They were both grinning. 

"Is he your boyfriend?"

Torako stopped brushing her hair and didn't say anything for a few seconds, then gave a strange kind of half-giggle, "No…he's my best friend. Another part of my taste that my mother loathes."

"Loathes? Why?"

"Because he's not rich. Because he's different from us. She told him to his face that she didn't think he was good enough to be around me. And now she finally got her wish and separated us." She sighed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright. You know, when this picture was taken, it was one of the few times I've ever felt normal in my life." She laughed to herself. "We went to a theme park with his family, since mine wanted nothing to do with him. It felt so good to get away from all that seriousness and just relax, you know? Be a normal teenager. But then I guess you wouldn't know about being different until now, would you? We met at public school, before my mother put me in private lessons, which was the first way she tried to separate us… But that's enough about me for today." She put down her brush and put a clip in her hair. "Let's go see what's in the fridge."

Zachary followed her out of the room to the kitchen. He heard a dull scratching noise and couldn't figure out where it came from until Torako opened the window and a huge bird flew in.

"What's that?!" Zachary gaped at it as he backed into the wall.

"This," she stroked the bird's feathers, "is a messenger."

The falcon cocked its head to one side and looked at Zachary, then at Torako, and pecked at a parcel it had dropped on the kitchen counter.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Thank you. Wait here while I write a letter to the headmaster."

It squawked indignantly and ruffled it's feathers. 

"Zachary, look in that cupboard to your left. There should be something for him in there." She grabbed a pen and a pad of paper from beside the phone and started writing quickly.

Zachary opened the cupboard and found a bag of bird treats. He fished a few out of the container and dropped them on the counter, a bit nervous about getting too close to the gigantic owl.

"What is all this?" he asked her. He felt something tugging on his shirtsleeve and looked over, seeing it was the big bird. "What do you want now?" it hopped over to the container on the counter. "Okay fine, but that's all." He gave it a couple more treats.

"It's my correspondence course. I started going to this…school when I turned eleven. Since my mom moved back and forth between England and China all the time, the headmaster let me take my courses like this. This way, I learn everything I normally would, but I don't have to stay away at school."

"What kind of school is so important that you would _want_ to do that?" Zachary asked.

"Well, a very special one…" she licked the envelope and gave it to the owl, who flew back out the window.

"Wonder what it is this month…" Torako opened the parcel and took out a long scroll of parchment. "Oh, finals! I've got about five projects to do here! Transfiguration… herbology …Damn that potions master. He wants the antidote for glooberwarts." She read down the list.

"Glooberwarts huh? What exactly do you _do_ at this school?"

"Oh, it's…ah, it's a school of witchcraft."

"What, you mean like, you could turn me into a toad by saying abra kedabra?" Zachary did some crazy hand gesture.

Torako looked at him uneasily, like she had just swallowed something prickly. "Don't ever do that again." She croaked.

"How come?" 

"Because people with magical abilities…when they do that…bad things can happen. I'm totally serious. It's a different kind of magic all together."

"Sorry." 

At that moment Saruko _finally_ came home.

"Hello kiddies. I'm not interrupting anything am I?" he grinned as he stuck his head through the doorway.

"No, nothing. What's for supper?" Torako asked quickly.

"I thought I'd prepare a gourmet meal…but then I remember that all I've ever cooked is macaroni and cheese. Yamazaki, what's the best pizza place in town?"

Zachary laughed. "That'd be Luigi's"

"Great. You order, I'll pay."

~*~*~*~*~*~

So the pizza came, and when it came, they started to eat it, after Saruko put the latest horror movie into the DVD player.

"No, don't open the door!" Quan (who had finally woken up) yelled at the girl on the screen.

"Uh." Torako rolled her eyes and took her empty plate to the kitchen. "I'm going to go work on some of my homework. I'll leave you three alone to plot whatever little scheme you need to."

After she'd been gone for about five minutes, Saruko turned the TV volume down low and turned to Zachary.

"So, Yamazaki. What do you think of my sister?" he asked.

"What? I…what?"

"Well, what do you think of her?"

"Well…she's very…different. And hot- uh, nice."

"Back up there, what was that other thing you said? Hot?"

"Uh," he cleared his thought, "No? I mean, not that she's not it's just…uh, yeah." He stammered.

"Well, if you even think of trying anything with her, just remember that if you make anything bad happen to my little sister, I will kick your ass in a second."

"Uh, thanks for letting me know…sir…is that why you asked me over here? Because if you don't mind me saying, that's a pretty stupid reason, and I think if I did try anything with her, which I wouldn't, and I did make something bad happen to her, which I wouldn't, she'd be quite capable of kicking my ass herself."

"I'm sorry. I'm just so used to having to beat guys off of her with a stick. Anyways, what I really asked you over for was just to meet you. I've heard stories about the Guardian Beast since I was very young. You know, when she first met you she was all mad and she said you were exactly like me, an idiot. I thought hey, maybe you were an okay guy. She calls me an idiot all the time, and just look at me."

"Uh, huh." Zachary looked at him funny. "For some reason I don't find that incouraging."

"So, you're new to magic, hmm? You better figure it out fast, because Torako is very determined. No offence, but I think it's best if you stay out of our family's business. It means a lot to us."

"Hey, just who do you think you are mister? Zachary is the chosen one, not your sister. His destiny is to be one of the greatest wizards of all time, and nothing you two say or do can get in the way of that." Quan snapped out of his daze and yelled at Saruko.

"Hey, I'm just trying to save you some trouble. All I'm saying is, she'll be all fun and games with you, but when a card comes around she'll still be your rival, truce or no truce."

"Well, thanks for the warning, and the pizza, but I think it's time for me to go. Come on Quan. We don't have to put up with this crap." He picked his backpack up off the couch and headed for the door.

"Zachary? Why are you leaving so soon?" Torako poked her head out of her bedroom door.

"Ask him." He pointed at Saruko as he went out the door.

"What did you do?!" He heard Torako yell to her brother just as he closed the door.

"Why doesn't anybody think I can do this?! They think I'm a weak loser who can't do anything!"

"Well, it could be your lack of skill, or your lack of experience, or you lack of-"

"Thanks for your support." He said sarcastically. "Now get in the bag."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

That's it for this chapter. I need to ask a favour of everyone who reads this now. When you review, please send me the corniest, most awful one liners you've ever heard that would fit with this story, and also any bad pickup lines. I'll use the best ones in some of my next chapters ^_^.


	6. Letters

A/N: My heart goes out to all those families that were effected by the terrible acts of violence on the United States earlier 

A/N: My heart goes out to all those families that were effected by the terrible acts of violence on the United States earlier this week. No punishment is too harsh for these heartless creatures, and I hope the terrorists are caught soon. Everyone has been left wondering what they can do, and I was answered with "Not much". So here's my next chapter, and I'm hoping if anyone reads it they will find a little bit of sunshine to take their mind off of a less than pleasant world for a little while. It's seems to be the most I can do for now.

Just another note, later in the chapter the words will be colour. The green ones are Torako.

Chapter Six

"I'm telling you, that girl is bad news Sakura. She's the Brat's match, and that's saying a lot."

"What do you mean?" Sakura furrowed her brow. She and Kero were having one of those heart-to-heart bedtime talks again.

"Li is a tough rival for anybody, I'll give him that much, but Torako can do things that he can only dream of. You know how hard it was for you when Li came along, right?"

"Mmm hmm."

"Well, picture what it would have been like if Li had even more powers than he did when you two were rivals, and you've got Zachary's situation. I don't mean that she's necessarily stronger, it's just that she has a wider range of skills that _she_ can use, and all Zachary has is potential so far."

"So, what exactly are you trying to say Kero?" 

"What if Zachary doesn't get a chance? He's hardly done any magic at all. By the time Li showed up hear you'd already caught a bunch of cards, so you had a bit of experience. When Torako got here, she captured the very first one!"

"Kero, you're really worried about him, aren't you?" Sakura smiled light-heartedly.

"Well, he kind of grows on ya." Kero said sheepishly.

"Yeah, just like a spore."

"I thought you two were friends?"

"Okay then, a loveable spore." Sakura sighed.

"Anyway, what if that girl challenges _you_?"

"What? She wouldn't do that, we're friends!"

"Don't be so sure of that. She may be a wolf in sheep's clothing Sakura, you can't be too careful."

"I know, but for some reason I just trust her. When she's around Madison and me I don't feel any bad vibes from her at all. I really don't think she'd try anything."

"Maybe you're right, but then again, expect the unexpected. Goodnight Sakura."

"Goodnight Kero."

~*~*~*~

The next week…

The students of TDSS (Tomeda District Secondary School) were all excited because of the announcement that Friday would be cut short by half because of a huge assembly in the cafatorium (A cross between a cafeteria and an auditorium.). It was the second best thing to a long weekend!

That Monday Sakura had shown Zachary a few techniques, taking Kero's advice to heart. Together with Quan they figured out how to seal cards with the sword, and luckily Zachary was a fast learner. He even figured out how to launch sparks fromit, which was close enough to lightning for him. He thought he was doing pretty well for a beginner, especially when earlier that week he had captured The Shrink card…

~*Flashback*~

"Hey, where'd my ruler go?" Sakura looked over the pile of papers she'd just set them on. "Zachary, have you seen my ruler?"

"Nope."

"I could have sworn…"

"Okay, where's the stapler?" Mr. Terada was going crazy trying to find it.

Zachary was waving his hand frantically in the air.

"What is it?" Mr. Terada asked, still looking around the room.

"Can I go to the bathroom?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"Yes, but hurry back."

Zachary walked out of the classroom, down the hall. It felt like his shirt was shrinking and he was having a hard time breathing.

Just as he was passing Chelsea in the hall, his shirt stretched tight to his body and ripped apart like he was the incredible hulk or something.

"Please, don't try to impress me." She said and walked away after they gaped at each other for what felt like a whole minute.

"Something's definitely going one here." He muttered to himself, and ran the rest of the way to the bathroom.

He surveyed the damage in the mirror. His shirt was ripped apart at the seams. "Hmm." He thought for a minute, and then called out his sword. "So, given the evidence that even I can see, I'm going to take a wild guess and say you're the shrink card." 

In response his boxer shorts began to give him the biggest wedgie of his life.

"Shrink card, reveal yourself in your true form!"

A green figure of a girl appeared before him. She looked like she would about his age. She had pointy ears and was dressed in a wrap around skirt and a top with flowing silky sleeves. She smirked mischievously as the room began to shrink around them rapidly.

"All right, I've had enough of this." By this time, the room was only about twice the size of Zachary. "Shrink card, return to your power confined!"

It smirked at him the whole time, and even when the card appeared, The Shrink still had the tiniest hint of a smirk on its face. Zachary smiled and shook his head as he held it in his hand. Then he went to his locker to get his coat, hoping against hope that he wouldn't be caught by a teacher looking the way he did.

When he got back to class, Torako glared at him. 

"You've just caught one, haven't you?"

Zachary smirked triumphantly.

~*Flash forward*~

The magician on the stage of TDSS was amazing to all, with the exception of two excessively serious people, and the fact that things kept going wrong with his equipment.

"How can you three find this entertaining?" Li snorted to Zachary, Madison and Sakura.

In response Sakura stuck out her tongue at him.

"Oh come on, that's so amateur." Torako commented. Normally there would be no point in making a bunch of high school kids watch a magic show, but this was Malcolm the Magnificent, sort of the Houdini of that area. He even had a TV show. It was unnatural for all this stuff to be going wrong.

They all rolled her eyes at her. Torako gestured to the magician, who was successfully pulling various things out of a hat. She grabbed Zachary's hat from beside him and stuck her hand it, pulling out a fluffy white bunny. Seeing their surprised expressions, Torako put the rabbit back in and gave Zachary his hat back. Li grinned at them.

When the show was finished, their group followed Zachary up to where the magician was packing up a big trunk. Zachary sidled up to the guy and said behind his hand, "Hey, I bet I can show you a trick you've never seen before."

The guy looked slightly amused. "Okay. I'll give you five bucks right here if you can show me a trick I've never seen before."

"Well okay, but only if you pull it out of my ear." He quipped.

Malcolm the Magnificent clicked the trunk shut. "Hurry up kid. I don't have all day."

"Okay, here' goes." He was about to shrink the guy's hat when Torako stopped him.

"Zachary, this guy doesn't have time for your silly little games. Let's go."

"She's right, I don't. I've had a hard day. Goodbye." He said, and then pushed them out of the way.

"Hey, we had a bet!" Zachary yelled, then walked after him with Torako trying to catch up. They followed him all the way out to his van where he was packing things up.

"Hey!" Zachary yelled again, "That wasn't cool man!"

"Look kid, I don't really care. I have another appointment that I'm going to be late for if I don't get out of here now.I've already had enough problems for one day." He realized he had his costume caught in the closed trunk an opened it to pull the fabric out, but along with the fabric came an explosion of confetti and a flash of light, streaking away from them.

"Whoa!" the first few students were just getting out of school had to duck to avoid being hit.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Zachary turned and asked Torako, but was surprised to see that she wasn't there anymore. He looked to see where she went, and she was already hopping the school fence to go after the card.

"Hey, what was that?" The magician stood there looking bewildered.

"I told you I could show you a trick you'd never seen before." He said, and then ran off after the card too, calling out his sword on the way.

Quan poked his head out of the big front pocket of Zachary's hooded shirt. "Can you feel it?" He asked Zachary. "Can you feel the card's magic?"

"I can feel something. I can't decide if it means it's a card, or that I'm going to throw up."

"Just keep running."

When they caught up with Torako, she had already made the card show itself. "Ploy Card,"

"Oh no you don't." he mumbled to himself while breathing heavily, then yelled, "Hey Torako, you're bleeding through!"

"Huh?" 

That did it; her concentration was broken for those two vital seconds. "Ploy card, return to your power confined!"

When the lights and wind died down, and Zachary had the card safely in hand, he noticed Torako standing in front of him, one white-knuckled hand holding her staff, and the other clenched into a fist.

"What? Everything's fair, right? I guess I'm not so retarded at this after all."

"That was a dirty trick Zachary." She snarled through clenched teeth.

"What, so now there's rules to this whole thing?"

"No, that was just…OHFORGETIT! You're such a God damned jerk!! Why do guys have to be so fucking gross?!" she asked nobody in particular.

"It's just your body Torako. Nothing to be ashamed of." he grinned.

"I totally agree," said some guy who was walking past them. He gave her the full checkout. Torako made a weird noise and walked past Zachary. 

"You're such an ass hole. It's no wonder Chelsea can't stand you anymore." She said and stalked away, probably back to the school to get her books.

"Hey," Zachary semi-yelled, but then gave up. Her remark most likely was true.

"Never mind her Zachary. That was a great capture!" Quan said.

"Yeah, I guess. I wonder where everyone else is?"

As if waiting for their cue, Sakura, Li and Madison finally showed up.

"Zachary!" Sakura yelled, "Did you capture it?"

"Yeah, I did!" He waved the card in the air. On it was a picture of a woman dressed as some kind of soldier, but with make-up like a clown.

"The Ploy card? What does it do?" Li asked.

"The Ploy card can help you figure out a plan to get out of any situation, but it's also a trickster. It likes to do little things to bother people. Anything that will give it a laugh." Quan explained.

"Zachary, how could you?!" Madison semi-yelled.

"WHAT?" he looked surprised. What could he possibly have done now?

"You caught another one without your outfit _or_ me videotaping!"

Everyone sighed and sweatdropped.

"Erm, yeah. Sorry." He really didn't look like he was sorry at all.

"Hey Zachary, where's Torako?" Sakura asked him.

"Torako? She um, well, I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure she's mad at me though, wherever she went."

"What did you do _now_?"

"I-" Zachary stopped himself. There were two girls standing right in front of him who would probably back Torako up 100% in her opinion that he was an complete jerk if they found out what he said. "I guess because I caught the card and she didn't."

"That's too bad. Let's go get milk shakes." Madison said, smiling.

~*~*~

'Aargh, that jerk Zachary! I wish a bus woud hit him…' Torako thought as she slammed the door of her apartment.

"Torako, do you realize you've slammed a door in here at least once every day for the past week?" Saruko needlessly pointed out the fact to her.

"Saruko, you dumb ape, do you realize that I don't give a fuck and a half how many time's I've slammed the door? Get a life."

"Hey, don't use that potty mouth. I have company." Saruko grinned.

Torako looked over his shoulder into the living room and saw some girl with auburn hair sitting on the couch watching them.

"Well I just hope she realizes that you're gay before she falls in love with you." She said, loud enough for the redhead to hear.

"I am NOT!" Saruko stomped his foot and was instantly transformed into a five-year-old, which always happened when Torako called him that.

"I know that, but she doesn't." Torako smirked. "Have fun." She walked down the hall to her room and closed the door. Then, just to make a point, she opened it again and slammed it.

She pressed her ear up to the door to listen to what they were saying.

"Who was that?" the girl asked.

"My sister. She's in a mood. I think it's time to up her medication."

"She's on medication?"

'Girrr,' Torako thought, 'I wish he would get hit by a bus too sometimes…'

~*~*~*~

_October 30, 2001_

_ _

_Dear Jared,_

__

I hate it here! I really wish I could come home, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen any time soon. It's raining here right now. It's been raining a lot since we got here. I guess it reflects my mood perfectly. There's this boy here named Zachary. He's such a jerk sometimes I can hardly stand him. He's "The Chosen One" apparently. How about that? I miss you so much…does anybody miss me there? Tomorrow is Halloween. Remember the last year we went out, and we hid in those bushes and scared the living out of your sister and her snooty little friends? That was so funny! I wish we could hang out like that again. Tomorrow night I'm going out to a party with these girls Sakura and Madison, and my cousin (whom I just met, but don't tell my mom!) Syaoran Li, which means Zachary is bound to be there too. They're pretty much best friends. Just my luck, hmm? It won't be a party without you there.

_Well I guess you want to know how I'm coming along with the cards, so I may as well tell you, I've only caught one so far. He's caught two, and he won't shut up about it._

_If you met this guy you'd probably want to punch him in the face after five minutes. I feel like a bit of an outcast to the group when Zachary is around. I know they'd rather have him capture the cards than me, and I can understand that since they've all been friends a long time, but I still don't like the feeling I get._

_You really need to get the Internet. It would make talking to each other so much easier! I guess I'd better stop writing now. It's past midnight. Saruko has this redheaded girl Nadia over (they've been going a week now) and he told me I'd better stay out of the living room tonight unless I want to catch them making out. By the way, I hate Nadia too. What am I going to do about her? She thinks I'm on medication. But that's a looong story, so I won't get into it. I thought I said I was going to stop writing? Oh well. Write me back the second you read this! _

_Love Forever and Ever,_

_Your bestest best friend,_

_Torako_

_ _

_ _

November7th, 2001 

Dear Angel:

_ _

_I wish you could come back too. That bitch Brittany who moved here last year thinks she owns the school now that you're out of her way. Sorry we couldn't be together on Halloween, cuz we both know it's the best day of the year, right? He he. It sounds like somebody might have a bit of a crush on Zachary to me. But that's just me, and what do I know? Mom made me take my sister out trick-or-treating since I didn't have anything to do. Does that suck or what? Tough break with that "Chosen One" thing.He sounds like an ass, but then you sure know how to hold a grudge better than anyone, don't you? Maybe you should cut him a bit of slack. Don't take anything he says too seriously, okay? He's just another dork like your brother (but I guess I don't really have to tell you that. Too late, it's written, so I'll just keep going). Don't worry, I won't tell your mom about your cousin. By the way, I saw her today at the post office and she gave me another dirty look, just in case you were keeping count. I couldn't help gloating when I noticed that I got a letter from you and she didn't ^_^ I was actually a bit tempted to wave it in front of her face and blow a big raspberry._

_How was the party? Did you survive without me? I bet you were kickin' it on the dance floor (you do, by the way, make a great dancing partner). I bet the entire male population of the room was after you half the night._

_Anyway, whoop Zachary's ass at this card-capturing thing, okay? Chosen one or not, they're rightfully your family's (I can't believe I'm actually defending YOUR family, the people who hate me with a vengeance!). Cheer up, I'll come visit you some day. Until then, check your email around 5PM on the 15th. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Love ya sexy__J_

_Missing you a ton,_

_Jared_

_ _

_P.S: Cut Nadia's hair off while she's sleeping and see how long she sticks around. Trust me, it worked with my brother's girlfriend. Hehe!_

_Catch ya later_

_~ Jared_

_ _

_ _

__Torako devotedly folded the piece of paper and crammed it into her diary, then she turned on her computer as he told her too and opened her email. The top of the page said, 'Welcome, Tiger_gal

"Forwards from my Psychic Friends…whoop dee doo…" she scrolled down the page to the very bottom and saw an address that was knew to her. The message was from "E-meetings.com." Torako quickly clicked on the link with curiosity. What could it be? The screen loaded, and it took all of her strength to keep from shouting for joy. 

**_'Jared07 _**_has invited you to a live chat via Web Cam. To accept their invitation, please click [here][1].'_

_ _

After that were a bunch of sponsors and disclaimers, but she completely ignored them and clicked on the link. The E-meetings screen popped up, and Torako tried her best to fix her hair and make-up before the screen loaded. She turned her Web Cam away from the wall (she'd always been nervous about it since American Pie came out). After going through the motions, an image of Jared's bedroom appeared on the screen and Torako saw his sister looking into it as if wondering what the heck it did. Suddenly she got a look on her face that confirmed Jarred would be there in a second. Torako smiled and chuckled to herself. He'd be so mad she was in his room. His sister backed away from the computer and ran away, sure enough, just as Jared came in to view. He looked into the screen and started grinning from ear to ear, making Torako to do the same. She waved at the camera, and in response, he gave the camera a big hug. Torako laughed. "Oh, Jared," she found her microphone and talked into it. "Hey stranger," with a smile in her voice.

He waved back at her, and then typed, 

_Sorry, I don't have a mike yet. That would be too much of a miracle to ask for,_' and shrugged.

"That's okay,we can just type" She said.

Ok :)'

I can't believe you finally got the Internet!

_Neither can I. I had to beg forever, and finally my parents let me, but I have to pay for it myself._

Too bad.

_Ah, it's a small price to pay to be able to talk to you face to face…kind of…you know what I mean.Heh._

__Yeah, I know. That's sweet.

_Well I'm just naturally a nice guy I guess._

Ha!

_What's so funny?_

Just naturally nice eh?

_Of course! I'm the lady's man._

Torako looked at the screen sceptically.

Riiiight.

_Hey, are you mocking me?' _He joked.

How could I mock "the Lady's Man?"

_Okay now you're just hurting my feelings.'_ He teased, and pouted.

_So what have you been up to? Capture any more cards?_

Nope. Not yet. I'm about ready to kill Zachary.

_That's always good.My best friend is homicidal. Head for the hills!_

Look out! Oh, wait a sec, my brother's calling me.

Torako turned her face towards the door. 

"WHAT?"

"Somebody here to see you."

"Rrr…just a minute."

_What's up?_

Someone's here.

_Want me to let you go?_

Are you kidding? Don't move a muscle!

_Ok. _

Jared leaned back in his chair to wait

Torako got up to talk to whoever was at the door. Once she saw who it was she almost slammed the door again, this time in his face, but she decided that there must be a reason why Zachary was there, so she didn't.

"What?" She asked him, putting her hands on her hips.

"I'm sorry Torako. Please forgive me?"

"Why should I?" she quirked an eyebrow.

"Because I'm very sorry, and it was nothing personal! I hate having people _really_ mad at me. How many more weeks are you going to go without talking to me?"

"Do you really want to find out?" she said coldly.

Sakura and Madison had finally found out what it was he said to her, and as he expected, they insisted that he go to her house and apologise until she forgave him, _or else_. Zachary was starting to think that that would never happen. He was beginning to think he was a woman deflector. _None_ of his gal friends would talk to him now.

"Please, please please _PLEASE_?" he begged. 

Torako looked at him thoughtfully. Was he mocking her, or did he really mean it? He sounded sincere enough to her. 

"Alright, I forgive you, but don't do _anything_ like that to me again okay?"

"Okay, I guess."

"You what?" 

"I won't?"

"That's better. Now goodbye." Torako shut the door and leaned against it, then having a sudden thought, opened it again. Zachary, who was walking down the hall, turned to see why.

"Hey Zachary, come in for a minute. I want you to meet someone." She grinned slyly.

~*~*~

A/N: Well what did you think of that chapter? Please review!

   [1]: http://www.fanfiction.net/



	7. A card, a man, and a new truce

A/N: Thanks you to those veery few people (Like, three)who reviewed chapter five

A/N: Thanks you to those veery few people (Like, three)who reviewed chapter five. You guys gave me some new fodder to work with in this chapter and I love y'all (even if _one_ was almost verging on a flame ^_~) Okay, to break it down (for those who may care), Li may be called Syaoran at those touching S&S moments (If I put any in). Nikki, Chelsea and Rita, and Madison will always be called by their English names, and the same goes with Zachary. I use his Japanese last names because I have no idea what it is in English. Torako Tenshionnami Kaylell will stay at that unless Jared is talking to her. His pet name for her is Angel, and Saruko always makes fun of it, just like a big brother should :) I haven't seen the second series yet so I can't very well put in those characters until I do. Phew! Now that that's over, I can finally start this chapter!

Chapter 7

So Zachary met Jared and they had a short conversation, Jared scowling at him a lot of the time, and Zachary wondering what his problem was the rest.

_So you're Zachary._

Yup. I guess you must be Jared.

_Right. I've heard a lot about you._

Is that a good thing?

Zachary quirked an eyebrow.

_Not for you._

Oh. Sorry to hear that.

_You should be. Listen, why don't you lay off Torako for a while?_

Why should I?

_Because if you don't, terrrrrible things could happen._

Oh yeah? Like what?

Zachary looked at the camera sceptically.

_Have you ever woken up to find that you had absolutely no bones from the waist down? Let me tell you, it's not too great. And that was only when I took her favourite Barbie doll and shaved its head. _

Zachary looked at Jared and blinked.

Uh, I've got to go now. Talk to you later.

_Not if I talk to you first._

Jared bade him an ominous farewell. Zachary surrendered the computer to Torako and waited for her to say something.

"Oh, you have to leave? Too bad." Torako told him. "I'll walk you to the door."

~*~*~*~*~

"I am _telling_ you Li, this _chick_ is _vicious_! I bet you and Sakura were never like this."

It was the next day after school. Li and Zachary were sitting atop a picnic table under a tree, watching the girls (Madison, Sakura, Nikki, Chelsea, Rita and Torako) play Frisbee on the soccer field. As it was autumn, crinkly leaves were falling all around.

"Erm, well in a way we were. We just weren't ever so…open with our…hatred. But hey, look at us now!" Li grinned.

"What do you mean Li, the fact that you worship the ground she walks on? That you'd shave your head, and crawl to the ends of the earth in a pink sequined Speedo if it would make her happy?" 

"Well I wouldn't say that…" Li trailed off. No doubt that painted an interesting mental picture for both of them. Li shook his head. "All I'm saying is, we're friends now. Once we started to work things out we just kind of…clicked."

Zachary snorted. "In a way."

Li glared. "In a way."

"I wish I knew how to make her give up."

Now it was Li's turn to snort. "The answer's simple. You can't. This means too much to her for her to give up on it. Plus it's obvious that fate has something greater in store for both of you. The key thing is that you work together."

Zachary listened in interest. "Fate? What does that have to do with it?"

Li sighed and lay down on the picnic table. "Well, I've been thinking. When Sakura and me were battling the Clow Cards, Sakura was the only one with the power to actually seal the cards, and she became their mistress. If you believe in fate, there was a reason why I couldn't seal them. That's because it was Sakura's _destiny_ to be the mistress of the cards."

"_If_ I believe in fate." Zachary looked down at him. "So where does that put us?" Zachary motioned to Torako, who had just jumped five feet into the air and caught the Frisbee without even messing up her hair, landing perfectly to boot.

"Don't you have a guardian beast for this kind of thing?" Li asked him after they watched the girls for a few seconds.

"Yeah, but he's annoying." He poked his finger at his backpack, which was making snoring sounds.

"I'm flattered. Well, the way I'm seeing it, is that since both of you have the power to seal cards, this rivalry probably won't end for a loooooong time."

"Like how long?"

"Like until you die long." 

There was a large pause, in which Zachary looked at the ground, then at Torako, then at the ground again, scratched his ear, and then back to Li.

"I'm not sure I can handle that." He said in a stressed tone.

"Too bad. Unless you know how to change fate."

"You're so depressing. I wonder how you ever managed to make any friends?"

"That's okay Zachary. You can thank me later." Li patted him on the back and then ran to go play Frisbee with the girls, leaving Zachary there still mulling over what to do, and not doing a very good job of figuring it out.

A couple minutes later, something odd happened. The wind picked up and leaves started swirling everywhere, which wasn't the odd thing. Torako gapped out and began looking around, totally forgetting about the game that was going on around her. As a result, the Frisbee hit her square on the forehead and she fell over. When she got back up she had a red splotch on her face where the renegade disk had hit her.

"Torako, are you alright?" Rita asked her.

"Oh, I'm okay, thanks." She replied absently. After a silent moment of rubbing her forehead she just looked at everyone and said, "I think I'd better get home. See you all tomorrow." She picked up her backpack from the ground and began to walk home, still holding her head.

"We'd all better go home too. It'll be dark out pretty soon." Nikki pointed out. "Wouldn't want to get caught by any ghosties!" she grinned.

Sakura shivered in spite of herself.

"Are you cold? Do you want to wear my jacket? Are you okay?" Li shifted into his chivalry mode. 

"Er, sure." Sakura couldn't say she minded. She smiled sweetly at him, making him melt inside as he put his coat around her shoulders. They both turned around to see the other five girls with looks on their faces that very nearly squealed "Aaaw, how cute!"

"What?!" Li nearly yelled. "It's just a jacket," he said more quietly.

Everyone else forcibly lost interest and retrieved their bags, Nikki and Chelsea going one way, Rita going towards the school (Nobody even knew why she tried to hide her feelings for Mr. Terada anymore, since it was soooooo obvious), and Li, Sakura and Madison all joined Zachary under his tree.

They all looked at him for a minute, while Zachary was still lying on his back. Suddenly he sat bolt upright, crossed his legs on the tabletop, rubbed his hands together with a clap and said, "Okay, who else here feels a supernatural presence?" looking from face to face. Everyone perked up when he said that.

"This time will you wear the outfit?" Madison said going starry eyed, and pulling it out of god knows where.

"I'll be glad to," he said, much to the shock of everyone else. "Get your video camera ready too." He added as he went to put on the battle outfit, giving his backpack a small boot to insure Quan was awake. He slept as much as Kero did, if not more!

When he came back, this time he had the full thing on, and Madison finally got her camera full of him. His pants were dark ocean blue, with gold piping about four inches from the bottom, but weren't poofy like Li's, and an embroidered gold dragon design that looked as though it were crawling up his right leg. His top was a bit like a vest. It had those Chinese-style button things, and was also blue. Underneath was a white shirt (like the one Li wore under his green robes), and he carried the hat in one hand.

"What's wrong with it?" Madison asked him, without putting the camera down.

"It's too dorky."

"No it isn't. Come on; just try it on, please? For me?"

Zachary didn't say anything, but jammed the hat onto his head. The huge thing drooped over his eyes, along with the peacock feathers and the giant fake jewel that was stuck to it. Sakura and Li started laughing.

"There, now would you like me to find an Indian and a construction worker and start singing 'YMCA'?" he crossed his arms.

"Zachary, don't slouch. You're supposed to be a warrior. Act like it."

"Fine, you keep the hat, and I won't slouch. Now I've got a card to capture, so if you'll excuse me…" he walked out of the camera's range of view.

Zachary unzipped his backpack to let Quan out, but he was asleep again.

"Wake up you useless excuse for a guardian beast. We've got business to take care of!"

"Hah? Wa? Oh! Oh, I was just resting my eyes! I'm awake now." He flew up into the air, blinking his little round eyes in the sudden light of the sunset.

"Zachary, how do you know that there's a card around?" Madison asked him.

"Well, as everyone knows, my powers have been getting stronger by the day, right? Well I can see auras now, like Li and Sakura. You guys probably didn't notice because you were so caught up in the game, but when Torako went into that kind of daze, her aura was blocked."

"And you think that it could be one of the cards?" 

"I _know_ it's one of the cards. And the reason why Torako went home so fast without saying hardly anything? It's because she forgot her pendant at home. I noticed that this afternoon. She went to go get it, hoping that I wouldn't realize that a card was around, so she could seal it herself."

All three of them looked at him, shocked.

"Wow, I don't know where that came from but I think it's the most intelligent thing I've heard you say in my life!" Li said.

"Well don't just sit there talking about it! GO get that card!" Quan yelled.

"Oh, right!" Zachary exclaimed, and ran to the middle of the field. There, he called out his sword.

'Sword of Rahn,

Power of magic,

Shroud of stealth,

Obey this command,

Release yourself!'

White glittery things that were appearing gathered together in the shape of Zachary's sword, which turned solid in a flash of blue light.

"Erm, Quan? Just one problem. I don't know where the card _is_ now."

"You'll have to wait for it to make its next move then."

"It might do something bad by that time!" he protested, thinking about his friends.

"Oh pish-posh. It's The Auror card. It can't do anything serious. All it does is block your aura so that other magical persons can't feel your presence.

"Oh, is that all?" Zachary replied in a mocking tone.

And so they all waited for the card to make its next move, Madison being the only one who wouldn't see it. One minute passed, then another thirty seconds, and finally, "Zachary! It's in Sakura!" Li yelled. And it was true. Sakura's eyes went droopy as though she was about to fall asleep, and Zachary ran up to her to seal it. Just as he was almost there, Torako stepped out from behind the tree that they were all standing in front of without anybody noticing except him and sealed it before he could blink.

"Return to your power confined, Auror!" 

As she sealed the card there came a great flash of blue light and everyone else shielded their eyes. When they opened them again, Torako was standing with the card in one hand, her wand in the other. She swayed side-to-side for a moment, and then fell over unconscious. Everyone went to her except Zachary, who stayed in his place for a moment scratching his head. "Why didn't I see her there?!" 

"Why don't you open your eyes once in a while you stupid twit! It might help!" Quan screamed, then flew back into his backpack muttering unintelligible curses.

Madison still had the camera rolling. Sakura was looking a bit pale from her encounter, and Li was trying to get Torako to wake up.

"Come on cuz, wake up. It's not bed time yet." he smacked her cheeks lightly a couple of times before her eyes flickered open. 

"What? Where am I?" she had that half-awake expression on her face.

"Torako, it's us! You just captured the Auror card!" Madison told her, still being relentless with the camera.

"Oh! Yeah!" Torako sat up with some effort and looked at the card, which she still gripped tightly. There was nothing on it but something that looked like mist.

"Huh."

"How come I didn't know you were there?" Zachary wondered out loud again.

"I can already hide my aura. It takes a lot of energy from me though, and I was hiding myself for a long time."

"Which would explain why you just passed out." Li added.

"Right. I'm sorry Zachary, but you know-"

"Forget it," he interrupted her, "You had a strategy, and you captured it. No need for an apology."

Everyone looked up at him in amazement. Could it be that the immature Zachary was finally starting to grow up a little bit?

"Oh…okay. You aren't upset that I tricked you?" She said, a bit meekly.

"Nope. Besides, I've got a few tricks up my sleeve."

Torako reached up for the hand Li offered and he pulled her to her feet. In two seconds she landed hard on the ground again. It was like her legs had turned to jelly.

"Whoops. I guess I'm still a bit too dizzy." she laughed light-headedly.

"Come on, I'll carry you home." Zachary held out his hand this time.

"Oh no, that's-" but Sakura interrupted her, whispering behind her hand.

"Just let him. He's been _dying_ to show off to _somebody_ for a long time."

There was a silent moment, in which they both looked at each other, and finally Torako met Zachary's eyes and said submissively, "Okay." He pulled her to her feet and then picked her up just as she was about to fall over again. With a sigh she put her arms around his neck to keep from falling and Zachary began to walk. Madison followed, shooting what she would define as a 'super kawaii' moment, and in the mix missing one she'd been dying to shoot since grade four. Li was just about to follow when he noticed Sakura hadn't moved yet, and was looking a little forlorn. 

"What's wrong?" He asked her.

She sighed. "Nothing, nothing at all."

Li held out his hand to pull her up, and before you could say "complete fluff" she was swept off her feet too. Sakura gasped.

"Li?"

"Hey. You look a little down. Anything I can do to help?" he murmured in her ear.

"Yeah, a Ferrari would be nice."

Their eyes met for a moment, and then they both burst into laughter, ending with sighs at the same time.

"I'm so glad I have such wonderful friends to cheer me up." Sakura rested her head on his shoulder, deciding once and for all that she wouldn't want to be anywhere else on a cold autumn evening, or any evening for that matter.

Up where the other three were, Torako yawned. "Zachary, you really don't have to carry me. We could just rest a minute till I get my strength back." She yawned again.

"No really, it's okay. Think I can't handle it?" he said, all too seriously.

"No." by the way she could feel his muscles through his thin white shirt, she was almost positive he could handle it. "It's just weird, that's all." She yawned again and within thirty seconds she was asleep, and Zachary learned how hard it was to carry dead weight.

They had been walking a while in silence when Li looked down at Sakura, oblivious to the fact that she was daydreaming in ecstasy. 

"Sakura, I've been meaning to…ask you something…"

"What is it Li?" she snapped out of it.

"Well, you know how the Winter Dance will be coming up soon right?"

"Mmmhmm, in a month or two."

"Well, I was wondering…wouldyougowithmeSakura?" he blurted out, ending on a high note.

"We always go Li, you, me, Madison and Zachary."

Li felt sick. For some reason she didn't seem to understand what he had just said.

"No Sakura, I mean _just_ you an me this time." Their eyes met.

"You mean like a-"

"Date."

"Oh… Oh!" and it finally sunk in. Her heart started to beat faster than it ever had before, and she was sure he could feel it.

"Yes! I mean, yes." She tried to make herself sound less eager.

Li laughed. "Oh Sakura. You're so cute." He smiled at her.

She blushed. "Why did you ask so early?" she quirked an eyebrow.

"We-l-l-l, I didn't want anybody else to ask you first." Now it was his turn to blush in his famous fashion. "Is that okay?"

"Perfect." She smiled and cuddled up closer to him. Madison had finally realized what was going on and turned her camera on them. 

"On no! I missed something didn't I? Don't lie I can tell!"

"You're too late Madison." Li told her, without his smile fading. 

"Did you two kiss?" she finally took the camera away from her eye and looked at them in a way that made them both laugh.

"NO!"

Madison let them walk by and then followed with her camera, but put it down and paid a little attention to herself for a change. '_I'm so alone. I don't have anybody who loves me as more than a friend._ _Oh well,'_ she thought, '_at least I can keep myself occupied with blonde haired older guys.' _And grinned to herself.

~*~*~

When they finally got to Torako's apartment Zachary set her back on her feet again. Li and Sakura decided to just head for home immediately, but Zachary and Madison decided to walk together after they dropped Torako off.

"Torako, would you mind if we came in and we could talk a little bit?" he asked her.

"Okay. But if my brother is home shield your eyes. His little whore friend might be visiting again.

Zachary and Madison both blinked and looked at each other. "Okay." They said in unison, a little confused.

When they went into the apartment it was completely dark inside, but the door was left unlocked.

"Saruko? Are you home?"

"Go away." Saruko moaned from the living room.

"I swear to god, if you and that bitch are doing something freaky in my living room I'll-"

"That bitch is never coming back." Saruko moaned again.

"What?" Torako finally flicked on the lights. Zachary and Madison had puzzled looks on their faces.

Torako found her brother sprawled out on the living room floor staring at the ceiling. "What happened?"

"Torako…Nadia is a man."

"WHAT!?"

"She…no he, told me today. I broke up with her…him."

"Wow. He sure fooled me."

From the kitchen they heard snickering.

"Oh can it Zachary!" Torako yelled.

"Wha-at? It wasn't me!"

"Right. Whatever. Let's just go in my room and talk. Madison, if you like you can watch TV. Just ignore the sloth-like creature on the floor."

Zachary followed her to her room and she closed the door. "Heh heh, I knew there was something about her…him." She laughed and then turned serious. "What was it you wanted to talk about?" She kicked off her shoes, flung her schoolbag in the corner, and plopped down on her bed, lying on her stomach with her head on her arms, crossed in front of her. 

"Okay. We have to work something out here."

"Not this again." Torako rolled her eyes.

"YES, this again. Just listen to my idea."

~*~*~

In the living room Madison had flicked on the television and was now curled up in a corner of the couch watching the 1990's version of _Bram Stoker's Dracula_.

Saruko found the motivation to peel himself off the floor and sit beside her. "You like blood-suckers girlie?" he teased half-heartedly. "That would explain why you hang around my sister."

"Vampires are so romantic. I love the idea of them. I've never seen this movie before either."

"Romantic? How can you find something that eats people romantic?"

"Besides that, I mean."

"Oh, of course."

It came to the part when poor dead Lucy pops out of her casket with blood pouring from her mouth and a stake driven through her heart, and Madison jumped half a mile.

"Hey, it's okay." Saruko told her. "I can see you aren't in to gore very much."

She shook her head and he put an arm around her shoulders. "Maybe you shouldn't watch this then." He murmured.

"I'll be okay." She smiled and nestled closer to him.

"Wait. You aren't a man are you?"

"No."

"Okay then."

~*~*~

"So that's the bottom line." Torako stated.

"Yup. It all comes down to a final judgement. Li told me so himself."

"Then that means-" 

"No matter how many cards each of us capture, we could both loose them all, and they'd go to be captured by someone else who might not be _any_ relation to your family. We'd forget any of this ever happened, our friendships, everything that's happened since the book was opened." Zachary finished.

"Wow. Are you sure? I mean, couldn't it be different for us?"

"I don't think so."

"So what do we do?"

"I think the best thing would be to work together until then. What do you think?" he asked her.

"I think…well…okay. We work together. But I _DON'T _need your help."

"Okay, okay, I get it. The point is, we need to get these cards captured soon, and it will be a lot easier if we work as a team. Deal?"

"Deal."

They shook on it, and walked into the hall to the scream of someone on the television.

When Madison and Saruko herd the door open they parted and she immediately jumped to the other end of the couch.

"Ready to go Maddy?" Zachary asked her when they entered the room.

"Uh, yeah I guess." She walked to the door and waved goodbye to the brother and sister, then she and Zachary left. 

On the elevator ride down Zachary kept looking at her funny. After he turned to look at her and tried to pretend he wasn't about fifteen times, Madison turned to him.

"_WHY_ exactly do you keep staring at me like that?" she put her hands on her hips.

"I think there's something wrong with your makeup…and your hair."

Madison gasped and pulled out her mirror compact. Her hair was slightly frizzed and her lipstick was all smeared to one side. She immediately started blushing.

"I uh…Zachary…I…"

"Don't worry about it." He smiled impishly, and after a short pause, "At least we know _you're_ not a man."

They both broke down into hysterical laughter.

~*~*~*~

A/N: How was that? Hee hee, poor Saruko…Please review! Thank you Hitoki ^_^ you always review so this chapter's for you.

Hehehehhe this is so funny XD um, a corny one-liner? Er...how bout Quan or someone saying to Zachary,er...when hes trying to catch a card...look out or something, and he gets whacked, then someone says open your eyes you stupid twit, it might help...gah im awful at stuff like taht ^^;;; continue!


	8. Truth or Dare?

A/N: Thanks you to those veery few people (Like, three)who reviewed chapter five

A/N: Hi again peeps! Ok for those who have been asking about International Survivor, it will start when Survivor Africa begins, (October 11th?) and it will hopefully be out the day after every episode. Hopefully Li will stop beating on Sakura then huh? 

P.S. I realize that there's probably something wrong with the date/season aspect of this story so please don't bug me about it. I'm not claiming to know anything about Japan so leave me alone!!! ~*Curls up in a ball in the corner of the room whimpering*~

P.P.S. I wrote three versions of this chapter, this being the tamest of them. If you want to read the version where they actually capture a card, you'll have to venture into the R rated section, but it won't matter if you don't want to. I really don't think it's bad enough to be R but it goes to the deep end of PG-13 so I just wanted to be safe. 

The third version is ~*blush X1000 -_-*~ my first attempt at Citrus type thingy so if you're interested in that…go for it. Just look for them on my profile page. If anybody I know reads it I'll die…

Chapter 7

One…two…three…four…Zachary counted the snowflakes that fell from the sky and landed in his eyes as he walked to school. It was wet snow and there was already a layer of slush on the ground, turning everything into a grubby mess. Just the way his brain felt sometimes. 'What a great November,' he thought, not in a sarcastic way. His watch beeped to signify that it was eight o'clock. 

"Crap!" He began to run, and after running for about three minutes, He collided with somebody at the corner who was also running and they both fell on their butts.

"Zachary!" 

"Huh? Oh, Torako! You're late too for once eh? So much for being the model student."

Torako shook her head. "Come on, let's just go." Zachary held out his hand to hoist her up but as soon as he started to pull his centre of balance was knocked off and, slipping on the icy slush, he fell over on top of her. "AH!"

They both sat there for a minute and eventually started laughing at each other. They repeated this action about four times before they finally gave up.

"Torako, do you believe in fate?" he asked, still laughing.

"Sometimes. Why?"

"I think that it's our _fate_ not to go to school today. Somebody up there wants us to be someplace else today."

"Really? What makes you think that?" Torako said with a chuckle.

"Well, what are the chances that on the same day we would _both_ be late, we'd crash in to each other on the corner of the street, and fall on our asses five times in a row in one inch of slush, and still be sitting here talking about it instead of bootin' it up to the school?"

"What are you suggesting?" Torako quirked a curious eyebrow.

"I am suggesting, dear lady, that we skip school today."

"Zachary no, I-" but he interrupted her.

"Come _on_. Who's going to get you in trouble, your _brother_? He's probably skipped a _gazillion_ times. What's _one_ little time? To celebrate our truce. Come on, _you know you want to_." He sang.

"Well…" She mulled it over, "Okay!" Her eyes glittered with excitement.

"Great! What will we do today?" they struggled to their feet.

"Yech. Well first of all, I want to go home and change into something dry." She squeezed some icy-cold water out of her skirt, which had enough water in it to drown a herd of prairie dogs and was sticking to her behind uncomfortably.

"What about Saruko? Will he be gone yet?"

"I thought you weren't worried about him?" she teased. "Anyway, you're right. He doesn't leave for another hour and a half. What do we do?"

"Hmmm, I guess we could go to my house. But we'll have to be careful and make sure my mom has already gone to work."

Torako nodded and followed Zachary back towards his house. They walked for about five minutes and then Zachary let out some weird noise, grabbed her and dove into a hedge.

"What?" she whispered.

"My mom just drove by. I guess that means the coast is clear." He poked his head out of the hedge, waited for the car to turn the corner, and then they started walking again. "Pretty exciting, huh?" 

"Yeah." Torako said breathlessly. Her heart was beating so fast she couldn't believe it. She had never done anything like this before. Her mother wouldn't allow it, and punishment by her mother was harsh. 

"Here we are." Zachary rummaged through his backpack for a minute and found his key, unlocking the side door.

Torako followed him inside and he shut the door behind her, kicking his shoes off so far that they hit the wall.

"Nice shot ace." She commented, and stepped out of hers without untying the laces.

"What a pro, eh?"

"Your feet smell horrible." She waved her hand in front of her nose.

Zachary shrugged without a care and led her up a small staircase that led to the main part of the house. Everything was decorated in blue and white. They came in through the kitchen.

"Hungry?" He skidded to a stop in front of the fridge on his soggy socks and opened the door to survey its contents. 

"Not right now. Just really wet." She held her skirt out at the sides and let gravity pull it back down with a dull 'Floop!' against her legs.

"Oh, right. I wonder how I forgot. Come on, I'll get you something to wear." He took her to the laundry room where there was a basket of his mother's clothes and held up a pair of pants. Torako looked at them sceptically. They were maroon dress pants about a foot too long. Zachary's mother was a tall, very lean woman by the looks of it.

"Erm, I don't think that will work for me, in case you haven't noticed." She took them and held them up to herself.

"I guess not." He surveyed her curvy figure, then jogged up the steps with her following and went into his room. When he opened the door you could hear faint snoring from inside his closet, which is where Quan slept. 

Torako looked around his room. She expected that Zachary would be a bit of a slob, but except for a pair of pyjama pants on the floor and the unmade bed, it was actually pretty clean. "Bat man bed sheets?" she giggled.

"Wha-at? It's not like it matters." He blushed a little bit in spite of himself.

"True, true." She trailed off.

"Here." He handed her a stack of clothes. "You can change in here." 

She took the clothes and motioned to the closet where the snores had turned into mutterings of"Cupcakes! More cupcakes!"

"Oh, don't worry about him. He won't be awake until Jerry Springer comes on."

"The Guardian Beast watches Jerry Springer?" She wrinkled her nose.

"Yeah, well, that's Quan for you." He got some dry clothes for himself, walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

When she finished changing she took her clothes to the laundry room and threw them in the dryer, and went into the living room to wait for Zachary, looking around the place. A huge China cabinet stood on one side of the room with (obviously) all the good China in it, and a bunch of collectable figures. Sliding doors led out to the back porch. The couch was against the wall closest to the kitchen and their TV was against the opposite wall with two shelves full of DVDs on either side, and the front window was between the couch and the TV.

Torako curled up on the couch and waited. If his mom's clothing was too small, his was exactly the opposite. The sleeves of his sweater drooped over her hands and the pants were a bit too long and wide, hanging on her hips, but she didn't really mind. It was warm and dry, even if it did belong to Zachary, which she somehow found herself admitting that she didn't mind either. She never wore clothes that belonged to a guy before, not even Jared's. 

"Comfy?" Zachary poked his head through the door and she nodded. "Be right back. She heard him stomp downstairs to throw his own clothes in the dryer and then start it, and then run back upstairs.

"Know what I just realized? If any of the neighbours see us I'll be in a lot of trouble." He proceeded to shut all the blinds, leaving the room fairly dark. "Now, what do you want for breakfast? I haven't had mine yet, so I'm going to make it really good. How do pancakes sound?"

"Good."

"Great. You can turn on the TV. I don't think there's much on at nine A.M though." And he went into the kitchen and started banging pots and pans around. The first thing Torako saw was Pokemon. "Dumb show." She flipped through all the channels twice, and finally ended up watching a rerun of Dark Angel. When it was half over, Zachary brought out two plates of chocolate-chip pancakes and gave one to her.

"Mmmm, my _god_ Zachary those are _SO_ good!" she took a huge bite.

"Yeah, I know," He teased.

They ate the rest of the time in silence.

When they were done Torako turned to him.

"What are we going to do now?" she wondered. Their celebration wasn't going to be too great. They couldn't even go out of the house.

"I don't know. I guess I never really thought about it."

"You haven't skipped before?" 

"Neither have you."

"I thought you did."

"I didn't."

"Oh. Well, we could…um…play…truth or dare?"

Zachary wrinkled his nose. "That's a girl's game."

"What are you, twelve? I don't here any better ideas from you."

"Okay fine. Who goes first?"

"You. Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"You're boring. Ummm, okay, how about…boxers or briefs?"

"_I'm_ boring? Boxers. Truth or dare?"

"What do you need all that extra room for? Truth."

"Hey, that's not cool! Do you have your eye on anybody at school?"

"Nobody in particular. You?"

"Well, I did like Chelsea."

"I could tell. Don't you anymore?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because she doesn't like me for who I am. She always shuts me down, and when I told the truth for once she wouldn't believe me, and it's been weeks now and she still won't believe me."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

"Are you a virgin?"

"Are you?" Torako made a weird face and they both started to laugh.

"I get it, I get it."

"Truth or dare?" Torako asked him.

"Mmmmmmmmmmmm, dare." He finally settled on.

"Oooh, adventurous. Okay, I dare you to…crank call the school."

"Done." Zachary picked up the phone, found the school's number, dialled it, and waited for the secretary to pick up. 

"Hello?" 

Zachary put on a really phony accent with a high-pitched voice. "Allo? Ees theese Tomeda Distreect Aye School? Dees is Meesees Vander tramp callink. Yeas, mye son Jeb will nat be comeink. He has da diarrhoea today. Okay bye bye honey. I told you already dees is Meesees Vander tramp! Buh bye."

He hung up the phone and Torako finally got to let out the laughter that had been making her eyes water the whole time Zachary was on the phone. When the two finally stopped laughing Zachary sat up.

"Okay, now it's your turn."

"Oh no, you're not getting me to do something like that. She stood up and walked to the window, peeking between the closed blinds.

"Okay Torako, here's your dare. The first guy you see, you have to pretend to be trying to seduce him like your life depends on it." 

She made a sound like air escaping a beach ball. "No way! What if it's…some homeless guy?! What if he smells like pee?!"

"Too bad. Are you going to back out of it? Chicken? I don't think you can do it." he teased, stood up and crossed his arms smugly.

"That's not a fair dare. I should have known you'd come up with something like that."

"It was your idea to play this. A dare is a dare."

Torako seemed to be thinking it over for a minute, and then she walked over to him and stood beside him. He looked at her a second, and then she threw her arms around his neck and started playing with his hair, which if you think about would be a very funny scene, considering how far her sleeves hung over her hands.

"Torako?" he quirked an eyebrow.

"You said the first guy I saw." She pouted.

"Riiight. Um, okay." He looked down at her as she leaned against his chest.

"Ooh, you smell so good." She sighed.

"I didn't mean _ME._" he pulled away from her touch and slouched down on the couch just as _Xena: Warrior Princess_ came on the TV.

"A dare is a dare." She mocked, and snuggled beside him.

"Did you loose your mind somewhere in the past five minutes?" he looked at her seriously.

"You're better than a homeless guy."

"Gee, thanks." He plastered on a fake grin.

"Oh come on Zachary. Just play along."

"What do you mean play along?" he lost his grin.

"Go…with…the flow." She said slowly, tracing the line of his jaw.

"Where is this flowing?" he asked her as she re-applied her shimmer lip-gloss.

"Why don't you tell me? Upstream maybe, if you get my meaning?" something changed in her tone. Zachary couldn't tell exactly what it was, but it was _very_ sexy. Maybe it was the feeling of her warm breath on his neck. Maybe it was the way she was whispering now. He was determined to put up a fight and not let her know how good she was.

"Nice Torako, real nice. I wouldn't have even guessed you would be the type of girl…"

"Mmmm, like that do you? How about this?" she put an arm around his neck and tickled him lightly behind his ear and across he back of his neck, her fingers barely touching his skin but still sending shivers down his spine.

"Okay, I have to admit, that was first-rate." His voice wavered a little. With her spare hand she reached across him and grabbed the remote control, turning off the TV and then the lamp beside her.

"There. Now that I have your full attention…" she trailed off.

"What?"

"How do you feel about this?" She pushed him over gently and straddled his hips, her behind sticking up in the air as she leaned over him. "Oh, it looks like I was mistaken earlier. It seems you _do_ need all that extra room." She breathed in his ear.

"Mmmhmm, you know it girlfriend." Zachary said in his best normal voice. "Nice move."

"And this one?" she came within an inch of his lips, her hair brushing his face lightly as its golden ringlets fell from her shoulders. "Well?" she looked into his eyes from under half closed eyelids in the dim light, and then kissed his neck softly.

"My God…" now he was whispering too.

"Ahhh, I knew it. I suppose you'll like this then." Torako went in for the kill with a sweet brush of her lips on his. Zachary very nearly whimpered. "Once more?" she asked.

"Please."

"Forget it." She sat up and flipped on the light with a grin.

"Not cool." He sat up too.

"I believe I am the master." She raised her hands in victory.

"You weren't that good." Zachary felt embarrassed.

"Not that good? Zachary I had you _begging_ for more. You were talking to God for Pete's sake, like you were going to _die_ waiting for my next _move_. I had you wrapped around my _finger_."

"No! I was just…yeah. Just…just no. Whatever."

Torako giggled at the way he said that.

"I don't like this game." He said.

"Sounded like you liked it to me." She trailed off, neither of them looking at each other as Torako flicked the TV back on. 

The rest of the day they watched movies and listened to music until Jerry Springer came on. When school was over and Torako went home, Zachary was left to himself with some very wicked fantasies going on inside his head.


	9. Truth or Dare 2

A/N: Thanks you to those veery few people (Like, three)who reviewed chapter five

I really don't think it's bad enough to be R but it goes to the deep end of PG-13. I changed my mind and decided to post it with the rest of the story. This is the second version of the last chapter. It's pretty much the same except for the ending. I don't know if I'm going to do the third version anymore since I discovered that I'm not cut out for writing stiff like that just yet.

Zachary, Li and Sakura belong to Clamp. So does the idea of card captor Sakura (If you don't know this by now, then there is something very, very wrong.)

Chapter 7

One…two…three…four…Zachary counted the snowflakes that fell from the sky and landed in his eyes as he walked to school. It was wet snow and there was already a layer of slush on the ground, turning everything into a grubby mess. Just the way his brain felt sometimes. 'What a great November,' he thought, not in a sarcastic way. His watch beeped to signify that it was eight o'clock. 

"Crap!" He began to run, and after running for about three minutes, He collided with somebody at the corner who was also running and they both fell on their butts.

"Zachary!" 

"Huh? Oh, Torako! You're late too for once eh? So much for being the model student."

Torako shook her head. "Come on, let's just go." Zachary held out his hand to hoist her up but as soon as he started to pull his centre of balance was knocked off and, slipping on the icy slush, he fell over on top of her. "AH!"

They both sat there for a minute and eventually started laughing at each other. They repeated this action about four times before they finally gave up.

"Torako, do you believe in fate?" he asked, still laughing.

"Sometimes. Why?"

"I think that it's our _fate_ not to go to school today. Somebody up there wants us to be someplace else today."

"Really? What makes you think that?" Torako said with a chuckle.

"Well, what are the chances that on the same day we would _both_ be late, we'd crash in to each other on the corner of the street, and fall on our asses five times in a row in one inch of slush, and still be sitting here talking about it instead of bootin' it up to the school?"

"What are you suggesting?" Torako quirked a curious eyebrow.

"I am suggesting, dear lady, that we skip school today."

"Zachary no, I-" but he interrupted her.

"Come _on_. Who's going to get you in trouble, your _brother_? He's probably skipped a _gazillion_ times. What's _one_ little time? To celebrate our truce. Come on, _you know you want to_." He sang.

"Well…" She mulled it over, "Okay!" Her eyes glittered with excitement.

"Great! What will we do today?" they struggled to their feet.

"Yech. Well first of all, I want to go home and change into something dry." She squeezed some icy-cold water out of her skirt, which had enough water in it to drown a herd of prairie dogs and was sticking to her behind uncomfortably.

"What about Saruko? Will he be gone yet?"

"I thought you weren't worried about him?" she teased. "Anyway, you're right. He doesn't leave for another hour and a half. What do we do?"

"Hmmm, I guess we could go to my house. But we'll have to be careful and make sure my mom has already gone to work."

Torako nodded and followed Zachary back towards his house. They walked for about five minutes and then Zachary let out some weird noise, grabbed her and dove into a hedge.

"What?" she whispered.

"My mom just drove by. I guess that means the coast is clear." He poked his head out of the hedge, waited for the car to turn the corner, and then they started walking again. "Pretty exciting, huh?" 

"Yeah." Torako said breathlessly. Her heart was beating so fast she couldn't believe it. She had never done anything like this before. Her mother wouldn't allow it, and punishment by her mother was harsh. 

"Here we are." Zachary rummaged through his backpack for a minute and found his key, unlocking the side door.

Torako followed him inside and he shut the door behind her, kicking his shoes off so far that they hit the wall.

"Nice shot ace." She commented, and stepped out of hers without untying the laces.

"What a pro, eh?"

"Your feet smell horrible." She waved her hand in front of her nose.

Zachary shrugged without a care and led her up a small staircase that led to the main part of the house. Everything was decorated in blue and white. They came in through the kitchen.

"Hungry?" He skidded to a stop in front of the fridge on his soggy socks and opened the door to survey its contents. 

"Not right now. Just really wet." She held her skirt out at the sides and let gravity pull it back down with a dull 'Floop!' against her legs.

"Oh, right. I wonder how I forgot. Come on, I'll get you something to wear." He took her to the laundry room where there was a basket of his mother's clothes and held up a pair of pants. Torako looked at them sceptically. They were maroon dress pants about a foot too long. Zachary's mother was a tall, very lean woman by the looks of it.

"Erm, I don't think that will work for me, in case you haven't noticed." She took them and held them up to herself.

"I guess not." He surveyed her curvy figure, then jogged up the steps with her following and went into his room. When he opened the door you could hear faint snoring from inside his closet, which is where Quan slept. 

Torako looked around his room. She expected that Zachary would be a bit of a slob, but except for a pair of pyjama pants on the floor and the unmade bed, it was actually pretty clean. "Bat man bed sheets?" she giggled.

"Wha-at? It's not like it matters." He blushed a little bit in spite of himself.

"True, true." She trailed off.

"Here." He handed her a stack of clothes. "You can change in here." 

She took the clothes and motioned to the closet where the snores had turned into mutterings of"Cupcakes! More cupcakes!"

"Oh, don't worry about him. He won't be awake until Jerry Springer comes on."

"The Guardian Beast watches Jerry Springer?" She wrinkled her nose.

"Yeah, well, that's Quan for you." He got some dry clothes for himself, walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

When she finished changing she took her clothes to the laundry room and threw them in the dryer, and went into the living room to wait for Zachary, looking around the place. A huge China cabinet stood on one side of the room with (obviously) all the good China in it, and a bunch of collectable figures. Sliding doors led out to the back porch. The couch was against the wall closest to the kitchen and their TV was against the opposite wall with two shelves full of DVDs on either side, and the front window was between the couch and the TV.

Torako curled up on the couch and waited. If his mom's clothing was too small, his was exactly the opposite. The sleeves of his sweater drooped over her hands and the pants were a bit too long and wide, hanging on her hips, but she didn't really mind. It was warm and dry, even if it did belong to Zachary, which she somehow found herself admitting that she didn't mind either. She never wore clothes that belonged to a guy before, not even Jared's. 

"Comfy?" Zachary poked his head through the door and she nodded. "Be right back. She heard him stomp downstairs to throw his own clothes in the dryer and then start it, and then run back upstairs.

"Know what I just realized? If any of the neighbours see us I'll be in a lot of trouble." He proceeded to shut all the blinds, leaving the room fairly dark. "Now, what do you want for breakfast? I haven't had mine yet, so I'm going to make it really good. How do pancakes sound?"

"Good."

"Great. You can turn on the TV. I don't think there's much on at nine A.M though." And he went into the kitchen and started banging pots and pans around. The first thing Torako saw was Pokemon. "Dumb show." She flipped through all the channels twice, and finally ended up watching a rerun of Dark Angel. When it was half over, Zachary brought out two plates of chocolate-chip pancakes and gave one to her.

"Mmmm, my _god_ Zachary those are _SO_ good!" she took a huge bite.

"Yeah, I know," He teased.

They ate the rest of the time in silence.

When they were done Torako turned to him.

"What are we going to do now?" she wondered. Their celebration wasn't going to be too great. They couldn't even go out of the house.

"I don't know. I guess I never really thought about it."

"You haven't skipped before?" 

"Neither have you."

"I thought you did."

"I didn't."

"Oh. Well, we could…um…play…truth or dare?"

Zachary wrinkled his nose. "That's a girl's game."

"What are you, twelve? I don't here any better ideas from you."

"Okay fine. Who goes first?"

"You. Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"You're boring. Ummm, okay, how about…boxers or briefs?"

"_I'm_ boring? Boxers. Truth or dare?"

"What do you need all that extra room for? Truth."

"Hey, that's not cool! Do you have your eye on anybody at school?"

"Nobody in particular. You?"

"Well, I did like Chelsea."

"I could tell. Don't you anymore?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because she doesn't like me for who I am. She always shuts me down, and when I told the truth for once she wouldn't believe me, and it's been weeks now and she still won't believe me."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

"Are you a virgin?"

"Are you?" Torako made a weird face and they both started to laugh.

"I get it, I get it."

"Truth or dare?" Torako asked him.

"Mmmmmmmmmmmm, dare." He finally settled on.

"Oooh, adventurous. Okay, I dare you to…crank call the school."

"Done." Zachary picked up the phone, found the school's number, dialled it, and waited for the secretary to pick up. 

"Hello?" 

Zachary put on a really phony accent with a high-pitched voice. "Allo? Ees theese Tomeda Distreect Aye School? Dees is Meesees Vander tramp callink. Yeas, mye son Jeb will nat be comeink. He has da diarrhoea today. Okay bye bye honey. I told you already dees is Meesees Vander tramp! Buh bye."

He hung up the phone and Torako finally got to let out the laughter that had been making her eyes water the whole time Zachary was on the phone. When the two finally stopped laughing Zachary sat up.

"Okay, now it's your turn."

"Oh no, you're not getting me to do something like that. She stood up and walked to the window, peeking between the closed blinds.

"Okay Torako, here's your dare. The first guy you see, you have to pretend to be trying to seduce him like your life depends on it." 

She made a sound like air escaping a beach ball. "No way! What if it's…some homeless guy?! What if he smells like pee?!"

"Too bad. Are you going to back out of it? Chicken? I don't think you can do it." he teased, stood up and crossed his arms smugly.

"That's not a fair dare. I should have known you'd come up with something gross like that."

"It was your idea to play this. A dare is a dare."

Torako seemed to be thinking it over for a minute, and then she walked over to him and stood beside him. He looked at her a second, and then she threw her arms around his neck and started playing with his hair, which if you think about would be a very funny scene, considering how far her sleeves hung over her hands.

"Torako?" he quirked an eyebrow.

"You said the first guy I saw." She pouted.

"Riiight. Um, okay." He looked down at her as she leaned against his chest.

"Ooh, you smell so good." She sighed.

"I didn't mean _ME._" he pulled away from her touch and slouched down on the couch just as _Xena: Warrior Princess_ came on the TV.

"A dare is a dare." She mocked, and snuggled beside him.

"Did you loose your mind somewhere in the past five minutes?" he looked at her seriously.

"You're better than a homeless guy."

"Gee, thanks." He plastered on a fake grin.

"Oh come on Zachary. Just play along."

"What do you mean play along?" he lost his grin.

"Go…with…the flow." She said slowly, tracing the line of his jaw.

"Where is this flowing?" he asked her as she re-applied her shimmer lip-gloss.

"Why don't you tell me? Upstream maybe, if you get my meaning?" something changed in her tone. Zachary couldn't tell exactly what it was, but it was _very_ sexy. Maybe it was the feeling of her warm breath on his neck. Maybe it was the way she was whispering now. He was determined to put up a fight and not let her know how good she was.

"Nice Torako, real nice. I wouldn't have even guessed you would be the type of girl…"

"Mmmm, like that do you? How about this?" she put an arm around his neck and tickled him lightly behind his ear and across he back of his neck, her fingers barely touching his skin but still sending shivers down his spine.

"Okay, I have to admit, that was first-rate." His voice wavered a little. With her spare hand she reached across him and grabbed the remote control, turning off the TV and then the lamp beside her.

"There. Now that I have your full attention…" she trailed off.

"What?"

"How do you feel about this?" She pushed him over gently and straddled his hips, her behind sticking up in the air as she leaned over him. "Oh, it looks like I was wrong earlier. It looks like you _do_ need all that extra room." She breathed in his ear.

"Mmmhmm, you know it girlfriend." Zachary said in his best normal voice. "Nice move."

"And this one?" she came within an inch of his lips, her hair brushing his face lightly as its golden ringlets fell from her shoulders. "Well?" she looked into his eyes from under half closed eyelids in the dim light, and then kissed his neck softly.

"My God…" now he was whispering too.

"Ahhh, I knew it. I suppose you'll like this then." Torako went in for the kill with a sweet brush of her lips on his. Zachary very nearly whimpered. "Again?" she asked.

"Mmhm."

This time the kiss was deep. Zachary groaned as Torako's warm lips pressed against his. She separated her lips, allowing him to slip his tongue inside her mouth, where he tasted chocolate. He couldn't get enough. As their kiss deepened, Torako lowered her rear from the air until her whole body was against his and she was running her fingers through his hair. When they finally parted, gasping for breath, she dropped kisses all down his neck, coming to stop at his shirt collar. She put one hand between them and unbuttoned his shirt, pushing it aside to reveal his nicely tanned skin underneath. At that point, she paused, and neither of them did anything. Zachary remained motionless as she pulled her shirt over her head and cast it onto the floor, leaned over him and licked his chest. Suddenly he grabbed her wrists.

"I don't know which card you are, but I know you're not Torako. She wouldn't go that far for a dare."

She looked up at him and for the first time he saw that her eyes had taken on a dull grey colour.

"But it pleases you master." It pleaded in a ghostly voice.

"Master? Wa…"

"My only wish is to serve you."

Zachary groaned and propped himself up. "In that case, tell me your name so I can seal you." He commanded it.

"I am the Submission card. I have the ability to control people's bodies and minds so that they do your bidding."

"All right then, reveal yourself in your true form." He called out his sword, and as the spirit floated away from her body it took the form of a fox.

"Return to your power confined, Rahn card!"

Once it was fully sealed, Zachary tucked the particularly dangerous card into his back pocket and went to help Torako, who had slid onto the floor somewhere in the whole process. He lay her down on the couch with her head propped up on a pillow and went to get some water to splash on her face.

"Hey, come on, wake up." He shook her gently when the water didn't work.

Eventually her eyes fluttered open. "What…happened to me?"

Zachary made an odd noise. "You're prone to fainting I guess. You passed out again. The Submission card possessed you, and I guess it took the dare. I just sealed it."

"Oh. Thank you. But Zachary? It was me who took the dare."

He looked surprised. "How long were you in control?!"

"How long till you realized it wasn't me?" she left both questions hanging in the air with a smirk while Zachary's mouth hung open.

"Oh my god!" she realized how far it actually went when she shivered and moved to pull the warm shirt around herself.

"Zachary you jerk! What did you do?!" she hissed, not wanting to wake Quan up.

"Um actually, you did it all." He gave her the strangest look just before his eyes strayed to her nearly bare chest.

"Oh…well don't just sit there, get my shirt!" she yelped, and whipped a blanket over herself.

Zachary shook his head and chuckled to himself as he retrieved her shirt and handed it to her. Apparently it was break time at school, because that very minute there was a knock on the door, but Torako didn't even acknowledge it. When he looked through the peephole he saw Sakura and Li standing there. He opened the door a crack and poked his head out, letting cold air rush in.

"Yeah?" he looked to both their faces.

"Uh, would it be okay if we came in?" Li asked him.

Absentmindedly, Zachary let the door drift open as she rubbed his eye. "Uh, I guess. Just hang on a second guys…guys? What is it?" he puzzled at their amused/shocked expressions. Li's mouth opened in an O of surprise, and Sakura's jaw slowly dropped with a gasp. Zachary followed her gaze as it flickered between him in his un-buttoned Hawaiian shirt, and what he thought was the door. He looked up the stairs to see Torako facing away from them, pulling the shirt over her head through the wide-open doorway. Sakura began to giggle, drawing Torako's attention.

She gasped in surprise, and then got pissed. "Zachary! I'll kill you!" she yelled, then stomped off into the kitchen.

Zachary groaned. With the whole house completely dark he knew what they would think.

"Ho! Now I see why you two weren't in class this morning Zack-man." Li grinned.

"Oh my god." Sakura tried to suppress her giggles by pressing her hand against her mouth.

"It's not what you think." He leaned on the doorframe. "Just get in here. I'm getting cold and I don't want the neighbours to catch us."

"Obviously." Sakura laughed.

"You might want to do up that shirt then sport." Li pointed at him as they went in with a grin.

~*~*~*~

A/N: How was this one?


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